I'm Your What?
by FernWithy Moriah Organa Mr.P
Summary: Two escapes from Tatooine, thirty-five years apart, brought together by a double-bladed lightsaber.
1. Default Chapter Title

Author's Note: It is highly, highly recommended that you read FernWithy's "Father's Heart"/"Encounters" series before you read this fic, or you will be slightly confused. 

Oh, hell. If you're normal, you're going to be confused anyway!

As far as a disclaimer, you know the drill.

****

Prologue 

__

Tatooine. 

Anakin leaned over the pilot's shoulder anxiously as the ship approached the two warring figures, as if he could will the mysterious black-robed creature dead by focusing on Qui-Gon's every move. 

He was not the only one. Both Padmé and a young Jedi stared intently, their faces knotted in worry and helplessness as the two lightsabers clashed amid the billowing cloud of sand. 

The ship lowered, the ramp came down. The silence was palpable. 

Suddenly, the pilot turned to the young Jedi, his face pale. "That other guy's on the ramp!" 

Obi-Wan turned to the others, a ferocity in his voice. "Stay in the atmosphere," he commanded, then gave a lingering glare to Padmé. "You _all_ stay here." With that, he left for the back of the ship. 

Everything after that was a blur. Padmé called up security footage on a viewscreen and they all watched in horrified fascination as the two Jedi took on the creature -- each breath kept rhythm with the striking of beams of light, and time took on a distorted, unreal quality. 

__

Storm's coming, Ani. 

In that way that he'd always known things, with that ability that had afforded his current position on a royal starship, he again saw the dark wave from his dream. 

A sandstorm. 

But the silence was unbreakable, solemn, nearly religious. 

On the screen, the dark creature drove one of his lightblades into the newly-installed hyperdrive as he collapsed to the floor. 

Padmé's face fell, and she lowered her eyes. "I'm sorry, Ani." 

"We're losing navigation controls," the pilot muttered under his breath, low and detached by the setback. 

He didn't hear either of them. The knowledge was too much. "There's a--" 

Before he could finish, they were all knocked to the floor and engulfed in howling and screeching, and an unnatural and sudden silence.

"I'm Your What?" (A What-If) 

by JediGaladriel, Moriah Organa of Alderaan, Mr. P, SithAbigail, and Vee

Lando was about to steer the skiff off toward the valley where the _Millennium Falcon_ had been patiently waiting for... the Maker only knew how long they'd been on this dustball of a planet. Lando had lost track at a month. He would be glad to get off it, that was for -- 

Behind them, the sound of Jabba's barge going up had become a drone, but suddenly, the sound changed, became a roar, then the whistling sound of a crashing ship. 

"Lando, turn around." 

"Already on it," he muttered, and noticed to his chagrin that he _was_ already on it. _Since when did I decide to do the Brave Rescuer bit for a living?_

As they swung around, he caught the glint of the sun on a smooth metal hull, rounded slightly along the oblong... 

A Nubian! It was a Nubian! _Damn_, he thought. When he'd been a kid, he'd thought those were the finest ships in the galaxy, and he still wasn't sorry to get to see one up close. 

Up _too_ close. 

He swerved at the last minute. The Nubian and the skiff barely missed each other, and the skiff was tossed to one side like a toy. It landed in a dune. 

"Nice landing," Han cracked. "You didn't do this to my ship, did you?" 

Lando turned to make a retort, and he caught sight of Luke Skywalker's face. 

Luke's eyes were wide and confused, and Lando could almost see his mind trying to put things together, like sparks jumping around on a circuit board. He shook his head. 

"I don't understand it," he finally said. 

Leia also looked troubled, though she'd looked pretty troubled in Lando's opinion ever since Jabba put her in that ridiculous gold bikini. (Lando didn't have much problem with skin, but he could think of a hundred things more flattering. And had, though he knew better than to ever say anything of the sort.) "Where did that ship come from?" 

Lando shrugged. "Orbit, maybe?" 

Luke shook his head. "It was flying low. It wasn't coming in -- it was trying to take off when it crashed." 

Han was already denying it. "Luke, my eyes aren't at their best, but even I would have noticed something that size coming through." 

Lando agreed, but said nothing. 

"Whoever they are," Leia said, they'll be in trouble if we don't get to them pretty soon." 

On that point, there was little argument. 

---------------- 

Amidala of the Naboo -- Padmé Naberrie, she corrected herself, remembering that she was still in costume -- was more than a little uncomfortable. 

The ship finally came to a stop against something. The wind, so loud a moment before, had gone ominously silent. But that wasn't why she was uncomfortable. The landing had thrown her across the cockpit. She'd rolled around Ric Olie and landed against a panel with some kind of control that stuck out of it, and was pressing into her shoulder. Anakin, who had been standing beside her, had somehow maneuvered behind her, and absorbed most of the blow, but he was just enough shorter that he'd been clear of it. She was sure he had to be hurt worse, but the way the ship was canted, she was having a hard time moving away. 

Finally, she rolled to one side, hoping that she wouldn't find the boy crushed beneath her. 

He was smiling, but his eyes were faraway. "You all right?" 

"Shoulder's sore. What about you?" 

He pushed himself away from the wall. She could see that most of the switches he'd hit were, luckily, small. One had torn his shirt, and drawn blood, but he was all right. 

"Is everyone all right?" she called generally. 

There were murmurs around the cockpit, then Sabé -- Queen Amidala -- appeared at the door, holding on to it to avoid spilling down the slanted floor. "Eirtaé twisted her ankle," she said, not putting on much of a regal act. "But the rest of us are unharmed." 

"And our... visitor?" 

"Is temporarily stunned from his encounter with the hyperdrive, but I do not trust it." 

With an effort, Anakin climbed the floor, and reached the door where Sabé was standing. He bowed a little bit, and Amidala was sorry to see that he looked frightened. "Your Majesty, may I see Qui-Gon?" 

A voice called up. "I'm back here, Ani. I'm all right." 

"Master, I... I feel something..." 

Suddenly, the clash of lightsabers rang through the hull. 

"Master!" Qui-Gon's padawan shouted. 

Anakin disappeared around Sabé -- it was all Amidala could do to catch Sabé's eye and remind her not to jump in herself -- and then the clashing sounds stopped. 

Qui-Gon re-appeared at the door. "Your Majesty," he said, panting, and Amidala noticed with some dismay that he was looking straight at her, and not even acknowledging Sabé, "we have a problem." 

"What kind of problem?" Sabé asked. 

Qui-Gon answered, still looking at Amidala. "Our visitor cut through the hull. Wherever we are, he is loose."

---------------- 

Luke knew what it was he felt, but it didn't make sense. There was no doubt about it -- his father was on board that ship. There was a kind of resonance to Vader's presence that he couldn't mistake -- 

__

Aren't you jumping the gun? he asked himself. _He might have been lying, trying to distract you with... with what he said..._

It didn't do any good. He had, as instructed, searched his feelings, and known it to be true. He just didn't much like it. 

Concentrate. Bespin is in the past. Keep your mind on where you are and what you are doing. 

His father was on that ship. 

The resonance was there, but... but it was different. He'd thought that what he felt around Vader was the cloud of hate and anger and 

__

(desperation) 

fear, but all of that was gone now, and still, it was unmistakable. The pulse of energy was surrounded only by a vague nervousness, a little sadness... 

What was happening? 

He was already off the skiff, and halfway to to the ship. Leia was close behind. Han's eyes weren't quite where they needed to be, even though he'd landed a few good shots, so he and Lando were a little further back, along with Chewie, who was wounded. The droids had stayed put. 

A flash of light appeared near the rear of the ship, and a black form fell out of it. This time, Luke did feel a wave of terrible hate and anger, with none of the other things he associated with Vader. The idea that the thing might have _been_ Vader, just by its cloaks and movements, didn't occur to him. He knew better. 

The gangplank lowered, and before it even came close to the ground, a long-haired main in a tan poncho leaped out of it, somersaulting down to the desert floor with a lightsaber ignited. It was green, like the one Luke himself had just built. 

A powerful surge went through the Force, and Luke understood, though he understood nothing else, that this man was a Jedi Master. A wordless request came to him, and he knew that his help was requested. 

He ran to the other man, who had abruptly stopped and sheathed the lightsaber. A frustrated breath escaped him, then he turned, looking entirely unsurprised to see a Jedi. "I don't believe we have met," he said. "I thought I knew nearly all the older 

padawans. I am Qui-Gon Jinn." 

The name meant nothing to Luke, nor did the word he'd used. "Luke Skywalker," he said. He was tempted to say "Jedi knight," but bit his tongue. Yoda had not given him permission to use the title, and he'd really only used it to -- 

Jinn's eyes narrowed. "Skywalker?" 

Two more figures were running down the gangplank, a younger man in long brown robes and a small, dusty boy... Luke's eyes widened as he again felt the distinctive surge of energy. 

"Say nothing," Qui-Gon Jinn instructed him. 

Luke felt he had little choice but to obey. 

At any rate, Leia had crested a dune, and was also headed over. 

The three of them arrived at the same time. 

------------- 

"Are you all right, Master?" Anakin asked. There was another man with him, a young man, about the same age as Obi-Wan Kenobi (who had introduced himself very briefly, in an irritated tone of voice). Anakin's eyes went to the new person, like metal to a magnet. He couldn't explain it, but there was something... 

Then something else. A lady came over the dune, and Anakin felt the same thing. 

Only he couldn't look at her. She hardly had any clothes on. He'd seen ladies looking like that at Jabba's place and it always made him feel like taking a bath, but this one... he couldn't look at her at all. It was like looking at his mother in one of those things. He took off his shirt, keeping his eyes averted, and held it out to her. "Here," 

he said. "You'll get burned." 

"It's all right." 

"Please..." 

"It won't fit." 

He realized she was right, and put his shirt back on, still looking at his feet. 

Kenobi's voice came across. "Here, Miss. My young friend is right about getting burned." 

Anakin saw a flash of dark brown cloth, and looked up with relief as the lady put on Kenobi's big robe. Now that he could look at her, he thought she was pretty, and that she really _did_ look a little like Mom. "Hi," he said. 

She smiled, amused. "Hi." 

"We've lost him then, Master?" Kenobi asked. 

Qui-Gon nodded. "I don't know how one becomes lost in this flat expanse, but he seems to have disappeared into the sand itself."

---------------- 

Amidala inspected the hole carefully, getting as close as she could without placing herself inside. 

The door swooshed shut behind her and the distinct rustling of Sabé's costume came to a stop at some distance from her. 

"Master Jinn knows," she admitted, her voice quiet, her eyes on the figures in the sand. 

Sabé's voice was tinged with disappointment. "I didn't tell him or his padawan, Your Majesty." 

Amidala rose to full height, and faced her bodyguard. "I know, Sabé. You served me well." 

Their eyes wandered back outside.  


Sabé motioned to the elaborate dress she wore. "Shall I change out of this?" 

Amidala watched as a scantily-dressed woman accepted the padawan's robe, and frowned. "No, we do not know who these people ally themselves with -- it might be best to play these roles a bit longer." 

"Does Her Majesty wish for her handmaiden to assist the Jedi?" 

"Sabé..." She nearly corrected her for the formality, but sighed and came to terms with it. If they behaved as if the Master Jedi knew while in these others' presences, and let such small lapses in, they might slip in a critical moment. "Yes, she does." 

Sabé grinned, and nodded slightly in obeisance. "I shall send Padmé immediately." 

The Queen of the Naboo brushed past her handmaiden swiftly and outside into the sand.

------------- 

C-3PO was very confused by this mess. How could a ship appear out of nowhere? It was impossible, except if the ship came out of hyperspace, or it had a cloaking shield. Cloaking shields didn't really work 'cause you couldn't see out of them, and the ship appeared too close to a gravity well to have been in hyperspace, threepio reasoned. 

He decided to take a look around this ship.__Oh, my goodness. What happened to their 

hyperdrive? They won't be leaving **here** soon. 

Stumbling around the ship, he ran into the astromech storage room. There, he saw a shut-down artoo, sitting on the rack, even though R2-D2 was supposed to be on the Falcon. He rapped the shell, and artoo suddenly started up, wheeling around. 

"R2-D2. What are you doing on this ship?" 

beep-dowip notship 

"What do you mean, where did I get my shell? They must have given you a memory wipe, the Maker knows why." 

kowowl 

"I was not 'just functional' the other day! I have been totally functional for years, you twerp! Master Luke will have your hide-" 

hwert-rong tyip wer nik 

"What do you mean, 'Who is Master Luke'? Do you know who these people on this ship are? They might not be friendly." 

jin-gon bon-b dol-a anasky 

"But Master Kenobi is dead! I saw it with my own sensors! This is madness..."

------------- 

__

In orbit above the Sanctuary Moon. 

Vader sat in his meditation chamber aboard the _Executor_. He was meditating, he supposed, but he could find no single focus for his anger, no particular hatred to energize him. He was tired. So very tired. 

It mattered little. He had a job to do, and he did it. He bullied Jerjerrod, and threatened the pathetic troopers assigned to outside construction, and had somehow pushed the Death Star back onto schedule. The Rebels could now begin using it as target practice at their leisure. 

He shook his head. His thoughts had taken a morose turn -- and sometimes a disturbingly faithless one -- ever since Bespin, and he did not care for it at all. 

__

Luke... He whispered his son's name into the Force, but nothing came back to him. 

__

Join me, my son. 

Nothing. Too far for Luke to hear him. The boy was still largely untrained, and Tatooine was a quarter of a galaxy away. And the boy was definitely on Tatooine. 

Even through the current morass, Vader was pleased with himself about that 

strategy. It was partly that he'd managed to keep several leaders of the Rebellion busy with their own affairs for several months, but on the main, it was more personal: whether Luke chose to join Vader or not, Jabba the Hutt was about to keep his longstanding appointment with a Skywalker and a lightsaber. This pleased Vader deeply, no matter what else came of it. Palpatine's treaty with the slaving worm wasn't going to be protecting him anymore. 

He slipped deeper into his meditation, casting his mind toward Tatooine hungrily. He saw only glimpses... fires, and a gun, and Luke's lightsaber... and Leia Organa, her arms strained as she... 

And was she dressed as a _slave?_ Had Jabba actually dared to enslave the Princess? 

Vader smiled. In his brief flash of vision, he saw her pulling a chain taut around Jabba's neck, and that was even better than the lightsaber, more fitting. The slaver killed by a slave that he never should have dared to take. He would have preferred someone tied to his own blood carry it out, but Leia had done quite nicely in the end. 

The sweet energy of old vengeance came to him, and he was strengthening himself 

with it when... 

His shoulders straightened; his back went stiff as a corpse. He could smell something on the wind of the Dark Side, a presence both strange and familiar. Along with it were other impossible presences, but this one was the one that he needed to notice, no matter how distracting the others were. 

He'd felt the presence only for a brief time. By all rights, it should have long since vanished from the universe. But it had suddenly appeared again, with 

__

(amidala qui-gon obi-wan and it cannot be but it is...) 

the others. 

Maul. 

Vader had taken some of Maul's memories into himself when he'd bonded with his Master, and he recognized the pattern. 

The first apprentice Palpatine had raised up. The one Obi-Wan had killed on Naboo. 

Vader did not especially care that it was Maul, only that another Sith had entered the galaxy, and if there was one thing he knew and counted on, it was that there could not be more than two. Palpatine would choose one of them to survive and the other to die. 

Vader had no intention of allowing that choice to be made. 

He would reach Maul first. 

He offered no explanation when he commandeered a TIE interceptor, and set course for Tatooine. 

It was time, at last, to go home.

------------- 

The robe was made of some kind of coarse material, and it itched. Beneath it, the ridiculous metal dancing costume was pinching her skin in a dozen places, and deep-steaming it in even more. 

She was decidedly uncomfortable. 

Yet she found herself accepting the strangers' appearance with no discomfort at all. 

They weren't here, now they are here, ho-hum, that's nice. And if there were two members of a nearly extinct order standing there as if they had every right and expectation to be there... well, once you accept everything else, are two Jedi _really_ that much of a stretch? 

Leia didn't think so. 

Until the one who had offered her his robe said, "I am Obi-Wan Kenobi." 

At that point, her mind kicked in. "You're _who?_" 

Luke gave her a look that meant _something,_ but she wasn't sure what, then offered Kenobi a conciliatory smile. "She means 'hello and thank you.' It took me awhile to translate it the first time, too." 

"It certainly isn't an intuitive translation." 

Leia was briefly annoyed, but realized quickly that they were simply bantering. And she _had_ neglected to thank him for the robe. Itchy it might be, but she was glad for the covering. The little boy who had come out with the Jedi had glanced away so quickly that she'd realized how she looked, and become deeply embarrassed to look that way. She had swallowed the humiliation at Jabba's because she had no choice; Leia Organa, princess of Alderaan, had been made into a slave -- a cheap and tawdry one at that. The boy had understood this humiliation at once somehow, and when he'd offered his shirt, she'd thought it the kindest gesture she'd seen in a very long time, though of course an impossible one to take up. The Jedi's offer of a robe was one she could accept, but she would remember that he had not been the first to offer it. When the boy turned and smiled at her after she was dressed, she felt instantly more comfortable. More dignified. More herself. 

She straightened her back, and turned to the man who claimed to be Kenobi. "I do thank you, sir. I was surprised at your name. I grew up hearing the name Obi-Wan Kenobi. You must have been named for him." 

The young man shook his head, mystified. "To the best of my knowledge, I am the only padawan ever given this name. It is not the practice among the Jedi to create 

duplication in naming." 

The other Jedi turned. "We seem to have experienced a temporal dislocation," he said, as casually as if he were explaining a minor mechanical malfunction. "We'll need to be careful." 

The boy moved toward him. Leia wondered if he was the Jedi's son, but didn't think so. "What do you mean?" he asked. 

The older Jedi turned around. He looked over Leia's shoulder, and nodded as Lando and Han came into earshot. "Our hyperdrive malfunction had an unintended effect, Annie. We seem to have arrived at a point in the future." 

Leia's mind tried to blank again -- ho-hum, so what -- but she didn't let it. Her eyes went to the Nubian. That class of ship hadn't been made for many years, yet it looked new and shiny. She could see a small figure coming down the gangplank, and beginning to walk toward them. 

"Why do you think that, Master?" Kenobi asked. 

"Reach into the living Force, padawan. The city is very different now than it was even a few hours ago." 

"Perhaps it's the past..." 

"No. I am almost certain of it." 

Leia told him the year. 

"That answers it, then." 

"How far?" 

"Thirty-five years, give or take. We'll need to return." 

"Master Qui-Gon!" a high, young girl's voice called across the sand. "Her Majesty does 

not wish for you to conduct meetings without my presence." 

The girl, Leia knew at a glance, and her heart began to beat quickly and furiously. 

She had dreamed of her, remembered her voice, felt her running in her own blood. She turned to look her mother in the eye.

--- 

The older Jedi tried to suppress a grin -- the Queen's persistence in maintaining the façade was admirable. The way she carried herself, even as the handmaiden Padmé, was far too in control, confident ... too _regal_ for a peasant girl in Her Majesty's service. 

Amidala gave a quick glance to 

__

(Anakin's son?) 

Luke and his companions -- a woman in her early twenties who returned the passing look with a transfixed stare, and two men who were maybe toddlers in Qui-Gon's own rightful time. 

Her lips were pursed indignantly. "The Queen wishes to know what has become of our attacker." 

He challenged her stare with calm, cool eyes. "Young handmaiden, we are presented with an unusual dilemma at the moment, one of which I'm certain the Queen is not aware." 

"And that is?" 

The rest of the group looked at one another hesitantly, a general feeling of uncertainty attached to exactly what he would reveal to the stubborn servant of a mysterious and absent queen. 

Anakin was the one to play the messenger. "We're in the future." 

"The future?" A pause. Her eyebrows arched in amused, detached disbelief. "Well, isn't this all wonderful?" 

--- 

He didn't mean to do it. 

He didn't mean to laugh in front of the ridiculous parade of his child-father and the young Old Ben, but the girl did first and it was infectious in the same the way one of Aunt Beru's chuckles were when Uncle Owen would let forth a string of frustrated curses with no direction. Then to his delight the boy began to laugh even harder than either one of them, but it was probably more at the way they stood in one place, two formerly-serious public servants trying to maintain some dignity in their postures as loud sobs of laughter dissipated into shallow breaths and silent exuberance, than at the absurdity of the situation. 

It _was_ ridiculous, unfathomable even. It relaxed Leia for them to laugh, he could feel it; she had tensed up the moment she saw the girl and for a fleeting moment it reminded him of his own reaction to his father's presence and a flash of something -- the girl's own words twisted into something more intrinsic, rooted within him. 

The laughter was, however, short-lived, as the reality of the situation sank in. 

The girl's dark eyes searched Luke. "You were the one that said this?" 

Leia jumped at the opportunity to answer this, the anxiety turning to nervousness, her eyes avoiding the penetrating stare of the handmaiden. "That would be me," she said, very softly. "I confirmed the year."

----------  


Anakin was glad of the chance to laugh -- everything had been so serious lately -- and he guessed maybe he did it a little too loud, but all this was so _weird_. It needed somebody to laugh. He was a little sorry when it stopped, but at the same time, he wanted to hear the future-people talk, especially the young Jedi. It was funny, but he thought that the man looked a little bit like Padmé, right around his nose and the way his cheekbones looked. 

"I confirmed the year," the woman in Kenobi's robe said. She was staring at Padmé nervously, like she wanted to make a good impression. Anakin wanted to tell her that Padmé was good and kind, and wouldn't make it hard to do, but he didn't figure she'd appreciate it much. (The oddity of a grown-up lady seeking the approval of a fourteen-year-old girl occurred to him briefly, but he dismissed it; Padmé was just the sort of person you wanted to have approve of you, no matter how old you were, he figured.) 

Padmé smiled at her. "Well, I'm sure we appreciate the clarification. I am Padmé Naberrie, in the service of her Majesty, Amidala of the Naboo." 

The young woman offered a formal bow, which looked a little ridiculous in the middle of the desert, especially given what she was wearing, and said, "I am Senator Leia Organa, Princess of Alderaan." 

The two older men showed up. Both of them looked a little the worse for wear. One was dressed like Jabba's guards. The other looked like he'd just woken up after sleeping in his clothes for a few days. 

They all looked at each other. Anakin had a name for the lady -- Leia Organa -- but he didn't know the others. He figured maybe somebody ought to do something about that. Well, he guessed he could do it as well as anyone else. He shrugged, and said "Hi." 

The one who looked sleepy gave him a wave, and the other one nodded. 

Anakin started introducing his group. "This is Master Qui-Gon Jinn," he said, pointing to Qui-Gon, "and his padawan, Obi-Wan Kenobi. And this is Padmé Naberrie." He presented her with a bow, trying to mimic Leia's (Leia smiled at him, and he found that he liked that). 

"And who are you?" she asked. 

"Oh," Anakin said. He was used to introducing people in his position as a slave -- he was good at remembering stuff, so Watto had him keep track of names of people a lot -- which meant he needed about as much introduction as the kitchen table himself. It had been weird, yesterday, the way he'd wanted to make sure Padmé knew his name. It was almost like a secret he'd wanted to tell her, even though it wasn't really a secret. Most people knew who he was because they'd seen him fly in the podraces. He sort of liked that he didn't have to tell people who he was... he showed it. 

But he still hadn't told these people his name, or showed it to them... his mind had wandered completely. He brought it back on track. "I'm Anakin Skywalker," he said. 

Leia and the two older men all looked up at the young Jedi, just like someone had called him. Anakin turned curiously to see what the fuss was. 

The Jedi was looking at his feet. Finally, he looked up, and looked straight at Anakin. 

"You've met Leia," he said. "These others are Lando Calrissian and Han Solo." 

He glanced at Qui-Gon, who rolled his eyes. "I'd thought to say nothing, but it seems a pointless strategy just now." 

The younger man went on. "And I am Luke." He bit his lip. "Luke Skywalker." 

It took a second for it to come into focus, but Anakin was good at putting pieces together to make them fit, and he liked this puzzle a lot. He felt a smile stretching across his face, but all he could think of to say was, "Wow." He reached up to Luke -- this grown-up man who would be his son someday -- and touched the cheekbone that reminded him of Padmé, fighting the urge to look back at her and compare (he thought maybe it would be better not to say anything about _that_ quite yet; she'd been a little bit jumpy when he'd told her he was going to marry her in Watto's shop yesterday as it was, but he hadn't doubted it then, and he _really_ didn't doubt it now). 

Luke put a hand on his head, and mussed at his hair, giving him a grin. 

Anakin did the same, then laughed. 

If this was the future, maybe he didn't need to be so afraid of it.

------------------- 

Darth Vader looked through his TIE Interceptor at the mottled view of hyperspace, contemplating his next move. 

__

I do not want to confront Kenobi, he decided. _Or the other Jedi, for that matter. I _

only have a single-bladed lightsaber, with that I can only take on ONE Jedi. 

__

I cannot also kill my former self, or I will die, nor make any sort of connection between myself or my former self. If that happens, I will not be trained. 

__

That is it. I will first go to Yavin IV, build myself a double-bladed lightsaber, and then go to Tatooine and confront Maul. It should not be more than a day's delay. I should be able to find a new crystal there. I could also use a chat with Master Kun. Pulling himself out of hyperspace, Vader changed course to Yavin. 

Can I face Luke again? I'm not sure.

-------------------

Young Anakin Skywalker snuck a peek at his grown-up son, as the adults talked in the ship's war-room, trying to figure out what had gone wrong with the hyperdrive and how it could be fixed. _His nose looks exactly like Padmé's. And he has my hair, totally wizard!_

He couldn't help the huge grin on his face as he looked at Luke. 

"What's so funny, Anakin?" Padmé whispered, amused. The pair had snuck off towards the doorway so they could talk easily. 

"I'm a Dad and I'm only nine!" He started giggling at that, leaving Padmé rather startled but she soon started laughing as well. His son, **he had a grown son** and the Princess seemed to overhear the friends and they both looked pretty happy for some reason. _I wonder what that's about..._ The boy mentally smacked himself. _Duh! Padmé's his Mother, 'course he'd be happy... But what about the Princess?_

"Come on, there will be time later to laugh at you having a grown Jedi for a son. Right now we need to figure out how we can get home before any side effects happen." 

Padmé sobered up and walked over to the group, leaving Anakin pretty confused. 

Anakin walked quickly to Qui-Gon Jinn and asked quietly, "What did Padmé mean by telling me there's side effects here, Mr. Qui-Gon, sir?" 

"Ani, we all have certain things we do in life, right?" When Anakin nodded, Qui-Gon continued. "Well, if we can't get home, we can't do those things and this world might have some nasty effects. We can only hope nothing will happen for a good long while." 

A petite female technician rushed into the room a few minutes later looking kinda angry, Anakin thought. "Our hyperdrive's totally blown out, we'll need to buy a new one, I knew that Watto would try to cheat up that---" Here the woman inserted a few choice adjectives that made even Anakin blink and **he** had been around spacers and Hutts his entire life. 

Obi-Wan looked at his Master, barely containing his glee. "I told you that I had a bad feeling about this!" 

"Now isn't the time, Padawan. So, now what do we do? Any suggestions?" Anakin saw Qui-Gon look at his son and the Princess who looked kinda like his Mom, asking for help. 

He also saw the sleepy man, Han, he thought, rub his eyes and then almost trip. "I don't know that much about temporal mechanics but I'd guess you'd need to use your old ship to get back. And finding a hyperdrive for an old Naboo ship is going to be a problem." Lando, that guy with the Jabba guard uniform, rolled his eyes, annoyed. 

"It won't be that hard to find on the Black Market, if you have the credits." Han said, complete with a roguish look that really got on Anakin's nerves for some reason. 

Captain Panaka started stuttering and Anakin had to hold back a smirk. "I will not let her Majesty's money go towards the Black Market thieves! We have Republic credits--" 

Princess Leia bit her lip. "Old Republic credits don't do any good. Besides, we can't afford to buy things that bring notice like that out in the open." 

"Why not?" Padmé spoke calmly, but with a hint of 'I-must-be-answered-now' in her tone. Anakin thought that when she then leaned against the metal of the doorframe and talked like that, she looked like a Queen. Queen Amidala, maybe. 

"Because we're wanted by the current goverment." Anakin watched as Leia glared at the other members of the room, daring them to say anything. _Okay, I think we're in just a little trouble now._

-------- 

Luke caught himself wondering if there was some way that his father would be able to get into... his father's... accounts, and stopped thinking that way immediately. He doubted there was a blood scan guard on them anyway. More likely some arcane series of letters and numbers. 

__

And besides, do you really want to tell him... that_?_

No, he didn't. 

Father, at any rate, seemed merely curious. "How come the government's after you?" 

Qui-Gon Jinn looked at him. "Anakin, there are things it is perhaps better for us not to know. We might damage the timeline -- " 

"Damage it," Han said, rubbing his temple after running into a low doorframe. "Hell, you can hardly do worse knowing than they did before." 

"We know so little about how this might interact with..." 

Padmé Naberrie interrupted him. Luke had gotten a brief glimpse of the Queen, and he didn't think she herself would interrupt a Jedi Master, but here was the handmaiden... and what was it about her... Leia certainly seemed fascinated. "Master Jinn," she said, "we need information on our current situation. The fact that it involves a temporal dislocation doesn't change that. We can't operate until we know the system we are operating in. And I would prefer not to do business with criminals, unless I know there is a good reason for their actions." 

Leia's face fell as if she'd been struck. "We're not criminals," she said. "We're... we want to restore the Old Republic. That's all we're trying to do." 

"Restore it?" Padmé asked, clearly confused. 

Leia nodded. "It's about to fall. Fast." 

Padmé gave her a guarded look. "It's hard to believe. The Republic has reigned for millennia... " 

Father was beside Luke again, a small, warm presence. They sought each other's faces, then Father said, with perfect innocent interest that chilled Luke to the heart, "What did they put in place of it? Is it really bad?" 

"Yes," Luke said, before Leia could begin a diatribe. "It's very bad. But Master Jinn is right. We don't know what you'll remember when you go back. It might be better not to tell you everything." 

"Thank you, young padawan." Qui-Gon's eyes narrowed a bit. "If I might ask, who is your Master?" 

Luke didn't answer in words, but nodded at Obi-Wan, who was engaged with the engines. 

"Am I dead?" Anakin asked abruptly. 

Qui-Gon looked at him. "Why would you ask that, Ani?" 

"Luke acts like we don't know each other. But I don't feel like I'm dead." 

"And how would you know what it feels like to be dead, Ani?" Padmé said, running a hand through his hair, and Luke understood, suddenly and with complete certainty, that she was his mother. He didn't know how he'd missed it up until now. The two of them... fit. He tried to imagine her beside Vader. He couldn't do it, but he _could_ hear her in Vader's voice, in the way he put his sentences together. 

__

So what is Leia's interest? 

He set the question aside. There were enough other questions. 

Father shrugged. "I just figured I'd know." 

Luke settled for the unsatisfactory answer that was the only thing he was logically sure of (emotional certainty had been achieved already on the matter, but he thought logical answer would be the better one here). "I'm not sure," he said. "I was brought up believing you were dead, but I'm simply not sure now." 

"I'm not." The words came out simply and flatly, as if he were discussing the time of day. Then he changed the subject. "Are we still near Mos Espa? I know where most of the good junk piles are there. Unless they moved them." 

He went on chattering happily -- Luke wondered if there had ever been a point in his life that he didn't feel like narrating -- and moved to the hyperdrive beside Obi-Wan. 

Luke looked to Qui-Gon. 

__

Master, there are things he shouldn't know. 

There are things none of us should. Yet he may learn them before the end. And, as your companion pointed out, that may not be wholly bad.

---------------

Amidala was finding herself increasingly agitated by the whole situation. Anakin Skywalker, naturally, was taking it in stride -- _Am I dead?_ indeed, what kind of question was that (and why does it make me feel so sick to my stomach, anyway?) -- but then again, he took everything in stride. Maybe he was just used to people doing things with his life for no comprehensible reason. She herself was used to having control, and this was... not a situation that she knew how to control. 

She tried to take his example, to just roll with the punches and see where she ended up. To find it funny to see his grown-up son. 

(_my_ grown-up son) 

She tried to blink the thought away -- ridiculous, why would she and Anakin have the same son? He was so much younger than she was and... 

A conversation she had once had with her grandmother, Winama, came back to her. It was shortly before King Veruna stepped down. Amidala had been Princess of Theed at the time, and had expressed the opinion that it would probably stay that way for awhile. Winama had raised one wry eyebrow and said, "Little one, haven't you learned yet that the future is not just a continuation of the present?" 

She didn't think she believed that -- not completely; the future always grew out of the present -- but she thought she might understand what Winama might have meant. Her perceptions in the future might be different. She could provisionally accept the idea, intellectually, for the time being, if necessary. At least Anakin was kind and cared about her, and not everyone could say that. 

And, anyway, she wasn't _sure_, not really. Luke had her nose, but was her nose really all that unusual? She could as easily say that Leia had her eyes, and... 

Well, what is that staring about, anyway? 

She shook it off. She didn't know why a princess of Alderaan was acting awed in the presence of a Naboo handmaiden -- it was strange, but no stranger than anything else. When she was ready, Amidala supposed she'd talk about it. 

Anakin was hunkered down beside Obi-Wan Kenobi now, Luke at his side, as they examined the damaged hyperdrive. Han Solo looked like he wanted to be there, but he was rubbing his eyes, and Amidala was finally beginning to understand that he had some kind of temporary blindness that was driving him mad. She cleared her throat. 

"It's not going to magically regenerate," she said, "no matter how many Jedi stare intensely at it. We need to find new parts. Quickly." 

Qui-Gon glanced at her and smirked. "Perhaps you should suggest that the Queen give the order?" 

She rolled her eyes at him. "Perhaps we should just go back into town." 

"That's what I think," Anakin said, getting up. "Is Mos Espa still there?" 

What a strange question, Amidala thought, but it seemed a logical one. 

"It's still there," Han quipped. 

"In all its dubious glory," Lando added, rolling his eyes. "Podracing arena's gone, though." 

Anakin's face fell piteously. "Gone?" 

"There was some fighting here, during the slave revolt. Guess the arena was a small price to pay." 

From despair to elation in a second. "We're all free, then?" 

"Free as anyone else in the Empire," Han said. "Maybe a little freer, out here in the Outer Rim." 

Amidala looked at Leia. The edge of her costume peeked through Kenobi's robe. "Then you're wearing that of your own free will?" 

She shook her head. "Jabba has his own rules. The Empire didn't bother with him. But he's not a problem anymore." A grimace flitted over her features. 

Anakin looked delighted, and Amidala half-expected a "Yippee," but one didn't come. "Let's go," he said. "I want to go back. I'll find you some parts. We'll find something to trade with the Jawas on, if nothing else..." 

He kept chattering as he headed down the ramp, back toward the desert. He seemed not to care whether or not anyone was following. 

But of course, they followed.

---------------

Han Solo squinted as he tried to look at the outskirts of Mos Espa, keeping a hand on Leia's shoulder as he did so. _The one good thing about being blind is I get to touch Leia without her starting fights with me._

Han smirked at that train of thought, leaving Leia to give him an odd look. 

"What's up, Han?" Leia seemed a little concerned, guilt, he thought, is very powerful. _That's stupid, you know she does cares, she's not just feeling guilty because Darth ... did what Sith Lords do to people. She's gone through worse, so at least it's not pity._

He was about to answer when he realized something. _I can see!_ His vision was a little blurry but it was clear enough to not trip over his own feet. Maybe trip going into a door, but not his own feet. "I can see, Leia! I can see! 

Han picked her up and twirled her, just happy to be alive and that she was alive with him, not minding that the Kid and the Kid's Father (How weird was that? The kid's father is more of a kid then he is!) were smiling, happy for them. Leia giggled breathlessly, "Han, we need to...get the, umm, hyperdrive parts. Yeah." 

He put her down regretfully but before he could speak, Anakin spoke up. "It's Watto's shop! Ooh, can we go in, can we?" 

Anakin didn't wait for an answer and Luke scrambled after him, yelling, "Father, wait up!" 

__

Ya know, it says something about this town that no one ever notices a twenty-one year old calling some baby-faced kid his father. Han, Leia and Padmé jogged after their friends, leaving the others who chose to walk at a much slower pace behind. 

When Han ran in, Anakin was staring around wide-eyed. He was whispering something to his son and Han only caught parts of it. "Working.. behind the counter.. I... to clean.. Watto! Ha!" The small boy continued to laugh at the unfamiliar creature behind the counter. 

"You buying anything..... Skywalker?!" The little non-human started babbling too fast in an odd accent for Han to pick up but Anakin seemed to catch it okay. 

"You need to be clearer. Which Skywalker? Me or my son?" Anakin smiled serenely while Watto's eyes rolled simultaneously, he stopped beating his little wings and the little bug fainted to the ground. "Watto? Watto?" 

Padmé drew herself up from where she was watching (Han realized with a start, that he'd forgotten she was even there, that girl was **good** at sneaking and listening!) and smirked just a little, a look that didn't fit her face at all. "Good. I do hope that little slave-master dies from the shock."

---------------

Padmé closed her eys as she saw Anakin looked at her with a bit a shock. _What's the matter with me? Why do I get a funny feeling whenever he looks at me? Or hate it when I think he's unhappy? He's just a child!_

"Padmé! You don't mean that!" Anakin's eyes were wide as he rebuked her. 

She turned to Luke, where he seemed angry at Watto as well from the way he glared. She inclined her head, searching for an ally. He nodded, showing silent agreement and Padmé continued. 

"You were his slave, Ani. His **slave**! Do you know what kind of person it takes to keep a slave when they know to the core of their being it is wrong?" She briefly heard the gasps from Leia and Han, but thankfully, the others still hadn't shown. "He doesn't deserve compassion or respect!" 

"If I don't give it to him, Padmé , how will I know to give it to anyone?" The small boy's face was serious and it didn't escape Padmé's notice how Luke grabbed his hand, trying to offer comfort. 

Padmé was silent and the group fell quiet as well, waiting for the small creature to wake up. 

---------------

Anakin had been having some fun with seeing Watto, and introducing his son, because he'd figured it would confuse the Toydarian, but he hadn't expected the poor guy to faint dead away. Watto? He was tough as old bantha leather. 

He bent over his old Master -- old Master... he'd been free for three hours! -- and tried to wake him up. As Masters went, they could be worse than Watto. At least Watto had let him race, and didn't beat him very much. And the quarters he'd bought weren't too awful. Some of the other slaves had it worse, anyway. 

The old eyes opened and glared narrowly at him. "What are you doing here, _pedunkel_? I freed you. That farmer cheated for you, and won you." 

"He didn't cheat, and neither did I. You feeling better?" 

"Eh." Watto pulled himself up, and the wings started flapping again, pulling him up to the counter level. "You want something else from me, _pedunkel_? What else do I have left for you to take?" 

Well, _that_ was a weird thing to say. But Anakin didn't have any idea what Watto meant by it, so he just said, "The parts got fried on our way out, which is how we ended up here. I mean, how we ended up _now._ You got any Nubian parts around?" 

"You better have something better than Republic credits this time. Can't do anything with them _anywhere_ now. And you can't race for it either, that's a fact." He muttered something under his breath about revolts and wars and politics taking all the fun out of life. 

Anakin thought of the racing arena, and was sorry it was gone, but that wasn't why he was here. He thought about asking after his mother, but the time ... and she wasn't right here ... he had a feeling she wasn't here, and a bigger feeling that he didn't want to know why. "I'll work for the parts," he said. "If you've got them. I'll work as long as you want, on whatever needs fixing." 

Watto waved a hand. "So you think you gonna just walk in here and get what you want from me? You think, all these years I've got no one can fix an engine again?" 

Anakin was silent, and let it wash over him. He knew perfectly well that Watto might have found a mechanic. _But not one as good as me._

"Peh. It got none of that old stuff, anyway. Haven't made that kind of ship in years. What would I keep such old junk for anyway?" 

"Maybe we could see what you _do_ have," someone said, and Anakin turned to find Han Solo coming forward. "Could be we could rig something up. I know the Nubian ships were fussy, but maybe we could convince her to slum it for awhile."


	2. Chapter 2

As far as a disclaimer, you know the drill.

As Darth Vader's TIE intercepter soared through the skies of Yavin IV, the Sith Lord Exar Kun felt a disturbance in the Force, one he had not felt in a long time. _Jedi..._

Vader stepped out of his TIE in the hanger of what was once Yavin Base for the Rebel Alliance. When it had been abandoned, the hangers were not destroyed. Now, Darth Vader was not upset that Yavin IV hadn't been obliterated by the Death Star, but he wasn't happy about it either. He was upset that the loss of the Battle of Yavin had cost them the Death Star, but he had never really cared for it anyway. 

__

Don't be too proud of this technological terror, you've constructed, he had told them. Tarkin had been a fool. He always had been. 

Darth Vader knelt at the spire of the Great Temple, and began to speak in the ancient Sith Language, Sithi. "_A hin hot ka Exar Kun, Sith Lord_." 

A blue ball of fire descended from the ceiling above, and came before Vader. It began to unwrap and expand at the same time, taking the form of an old man with sithly black hair and grey skin. "What have you called me for, Lord Vader? I do not like to be wakened from my slumber unless there is a great emergency." 

"That there is, my Lord. There is a great disturbance in the Force." 

"I have felt it. A weakling Jedi Master has appeared." 

"That I know. I have identified him as Qui-Gon Jinn. He also has with him an apprentice, Obi-Wan Kenobi. They are currently on Tatooine." 

"Obi-Wan Kenobi...I vaguely remember that name being spoken of in this temple in the **past** tense. Interesting, most interesting." 

"There is more, Master. There is now a THIRD Sith Lord. Darth Maul, who died at the hands of Kenobi. Even more dangerous, is young Skywalker." 

"Skywalker...Luke Skywalker, a Jedi?" 

"No, Master. Anakin Skywalker." 

"But, Skywalker is dead." 

"He is just a boy. I must tread carefully, or I may not survive." 

"Yes, you will. Need a double-bladed lightsaber, you do. there is no need to build one. I have my _special_ lightsaber hidden in another temple. It is a highly advanced version. No being has been able to yield it; they all killed themselves with it. I believe that you will be able to." 

"It is the finest lightsaber ever constructed," He continued. "It was built by a Sith millenia ago, on the planet Byss. Come, let us see your new lightsaber." 

Exar Kun led Darth Vader down into the bowels of the Great Temple, to a room that was in the core of the planet. Embedded in crystal were two double-bladed lightsabers, side by side. They were connected, somehow. Darth Vader picked it up, and there was a guage on the side. The turned it, and the hilts swiveled. He also noted that there was twelve buttons. _There are **twelve** crystals!_ he could change the length of any one of the four blade at any time. A quadruple-bladed lightsaber.

------------------ 

Watto chuckled to himself, speaking (though he didn't feel reluctance he knew it was a great bargaining tool) slowly. "I have some old Laceran ships outside. I will let you see them. Come." 

"Laceran?! Those ships couldn't be built worse if they were built by clumsy 

Gamorreans on steroids!" A Jedi with a small braid stepped through the doorway, others following. 

__

If he lost me a sale... Watto blinked and started fluttering his wings fast as he saw that farmer enter. _In the name of Kammerick, what is he doing here?! What kind of farmer keeps company like this?_

Watto gave the room a quick inventory, slowly realizing who was in this room, paying no heed to that smuggler yelling with Jedi about 'Millennium Falcons who had Laceran parts'. _By Kammerick, I have a Jedi in this shop, that Rebel princess and Luke Skywalker who has one of the highest bounties on him in the galaxy! I can make so much money off of this, I could retire!_

The small girl who had an aura of power hanging on her, spoke. "You may fight later. Now, we must get materials to repair our ship. Or do you wish to be stuck in the future forever?" 

"Padmé is right. We should go look. The sooner we get this part, the sooner we can go sith-searching." The farmer inclined his head, getting others to follow. 

Motioning for the group to step outside, Watto heard the dark man in Jabba's guardsmen apparel mumble, "You want the Sith that much, you can have Vader and Emperor Palpatine." 

As soon as they were all out, Watto called up his linkup to Interstellar Comm from the counter. A staticy holo of Captain Kalara, his Imperial contact, came up and Watto spoke quickly. "I have the Rebel princess, Luke Skywalker and a Jedi in my shop." 

"WHAT?!" The Captain's eyes were widened and he appeared to have trouble breathing. 

"If I were you," _And you don't know how glad I am I'm not you!_ "I'd get my people down here to collect my bounty. Of course, I could always call someone else..." Watto made a move as if to turn off his Comm. 

"No! Look, I'll have people there in twenty-four hours. Make sure they stay on planet until then." With that the Captain shut his comm off leaving Watto alone to enjoy his victory.

------------------ 

Anakin Skywalker shuddered to himself, stopping suddenly and he could tell that Padmé was concerned. "What's wrong, Ani?" 

Anakin could feel somehing pulsing around him, tugging on him. It was kinda liek teh feeling her got when he podraced, only scarier. Whatever it was had been doing that ever since he came, but he could ignore it mostly. But rigtht now it was giving hima funny feeling, like he had seen something but didn't know what. "Nothing, Padmé, nothing." 

He didn't want to worry her after all. 

To his shock, Padmé gave him a brief hug and he looked at her in surprise when she let him go. "It will be all right, Ani. I promise I will do all I can to make it all right."

------------------ 

It was a lot to process. 

That was all there was to it. Luke couldn't justify the boy across the room with the man who had cut off his hand six months ago. 

Except... 

Except that he's proud of me, how's that for starters? Except that I don't have any problem at all figuring that this boy would want to 'end this destructive conflict and bring order to the galaxy.' Except that... 

He didn't know how to express it, even to himself, but when Father had knelt beside the little creature who had owned him -- _owned?!_ -- Luke had seen something that made him think of Vader. Some break in the armour... There had always been awful tales of things that Vader had done, and Luke had good reasons to believe them. But he'd never heard of Vader deliberately humiliating someone. He showed some respect to his enemies, even as he completely destroyed them. That was his reputation, and that was, as far as Luke could tell, the truth. 

Was that something of this boy that had survived? 

He glanced over, and saw his mother give his father a small, sisterly hug. 

"You listening, Kid?" Han asked. 

Luke smiled. "No. Not really." 

"Something else, huh?" 

"Something," Luke agreed. He hadn't told Han -- or even Leia -- what Vader had said on Bespin. He didn't think there would ever be a right time for that, somehow. 

"Laceran parts are worthless." 

"They're adaptable," Han said, turning back to the conversation. "I can work with Laceran. More important, they're about the right size for a Naboo cruiser. Not too much paring down to fit." 

Obi-Wan wasn't impressed. "It seems foolish to invest in parts we know well are not matched to the ship, in only the hope that you can modify them." 

"He can." A high voice entered the fray, and Father took the small holo of the Nubian cruiser that Qui-Gon Jinn was holding. He hit a button, and the holo shifted to a 

schematic. "It's not that hard. I can help." 

To Luke's surprise, Han didn't make any cracks about it. He wondered exactly how long the old pirate had been fixing ships, to not be skeptical about a nine-year-old's help. The two of them started talking about what would need to be done, and Luke fought a stab of jealousy. He could do simple repairs with the best of them, but he'd never gone in for the serious stuff. His lightsaber was the most complex construction project he'd tried. 

The old Toydarian appeared at the door of his shop, smiling broadly. "Come in, come 

in," he said. "For me, it has been many, many years." 

A barely perceptible shift in Qui-Gon's stance told Luke that he wasn't the only one who distrusted this sudden friendly shift. The Master turned to Watto. "Thank you, my blue friend. But I believe we will simply make our purchase and leave you to your business." 

"What are you planning to make it with? The boy said he'd work for the parts! He can't do that in a few minutes, I think!" 

"He's right," Father said. 

Obi-Wan threw his hands in the air. "I'll think before I speak next time, Master. I seem to be doomed to stay on Tatooine for a very long time."

------------------ 

Life was extremely complicated. 

When you're little, you assume everything just gets easier. All adults tell you this to patronize you, even though it doesn't work like that. From Leia's experience at least, growing up just made things harder. 

__

If I had found someone from the past a few years ago, I would have told them about Palpatine without a second thought. Now... I'm in the position to tell two Jedi, a queen who I was told helped set up the Empire, and Luke's father what will happen. And I know I won't because I'm afraid of losing what I have. Of Luke never being born, of never meeting Han, not having my father be my father ... . Of not even existing because my mother stayed on Naboo. 

So she sat in silence, watching Luke's young father play with various gadgets she had no name for, and do it with maniacal glee on his face. The others had left, excluding Anakin, of course, saying they'd be more useful elsewhere. She knew she wouldn't be more useful away and would probably have much more fun here. Watching Anakin work was strangely fascinating. But, she supposed, compared to convincing Mon Mothma it was important to stay on Tatooine for an extra week, anything was fascinating. 

"It's easy, you know." Leia was so engrossed in her thoughts that when Anakin spoke, she jumped off the small speeder and knocker her foot. "Sorry!" 

"It's all right.... Skywalker." She wasn't quite sure what to call him, Ani was much to informal, he was her good friend's father after all, and for some reason Anakin didn't stick in her mind. Skywalker worked well and that was just how she thought of him. 

He grinned and waved her over to where he was working on a brand-new speeder. "Isn't she pretty? I never worked on this stuff back then," Skywalker made an expansive hand gesture and continued. "Guess he decided to appreciate me when I left." 

Leia raised an eyebrow, she had noticed Watto seemed a little...eager, to give him easy jobs that didn't seem to get him as dirty as he could be. "Well, he probably missed you. You seem like a good enough kid... You're not blowing anything up." 

"You haven't been around a nine-year-old for years, have you?" She flushed while Skywalker made some final-adjustment and shut the compartment. 

"Does being around myself count?" Leia looked at her nails studiously while the young boy hopped up on the speeder. 

"Nah. So you'll know, kids don't blow junk up 'til they get to be teens." With this he threw his arms apart and yelled, "KABOOM!". 

Leia couldn't help the giggle that emerged and Skywalker's face lit up. _He's such a cute kid.... Luke's lucky to have a father like this._ She remembered with a twinge that Luke had never met his Father until today. At least her father, as much as he wasn't around, did show up when he needed a perfect daughter for his image. _At least he got me into the Rebellion._

She was feeling suprisingly bitter today, which was no wonder with her birth Mother showing up. Leia shook her head and turned on a bright smile. "So Skywalker, what can I do to help?" 

He pointed out a few things and Leia nodded and for the first time that day, felt useful. 

The Princess was so focused on her work, she didn't notice Watto looking through the entryway and chuckling, very softly.

------------------ 

Kit Jarai knew more than he let on, and suspected more than he knew. He knew that the Luke Skywalker who had destroyed the Death Star was Anakin's son, because he'd been watching the boy for years, smiling to himself when he heard of a daredevil young pilot up near the Jundland wastes. He knew that Anakin had gotten himself into some kind of deep trouble near the end. 

And he suspected -- in a mournful part of his heart -- just _how_ deep that trouble might have been. 

He laid out the afternoon's simple fare on a long stone table. There was no name for this hall -- it had once served some purpose for the Hutts, he thought, but it had long been abandoned when he and Seek had taken possession of it. Kit thought of it as the Sanctuary. Most of the children thought that was a stupid name, so he didn't use it often. He wanted them to feel welcomed here. 

They began to come in, a few at a time. War orphans, for the most part. Some Rebel, some Imperial. There were occasional scuffles, but on the whole, they didn't care about politics. They'd all lost the same thing, and when push came to shove, they were each other's family now. He heard tales from all of them, and he had put together a picture in his mind that he didn't like at all, but couldn't shake. 

The most disturbing was a ten-year-old girl with hair the color of midnight. Her name was Dritali, and she had come from Coruscant. She was not a war orphan, though her father had been an Imperial officer. What had become of her mother was a question Kit had not asked, because he didn't think he wanted to know. It wasn't that her tale was worse than the rest, it was just that it had ... unthinkable ramifications. 

She'd arrived two years ago, her face scarred and one arm broken, and said that she'd been told about a place she could go. 

"Who told you?" Kit asked. 

Dritali had looked up with big, wounded eyes, and said, "Someone who knows." Then she'd held up her arm, and Kit had seen a bracelet, a woman's bracelet of the sort that had been popular in Mos Espa when he was a child. On Dritali, it reached all the way to her elbow, and immobilized her broken arm. Kit had last seen it on Shmi Skywalker. Which meant it had been given to her by someone connected to Anakin. 

Except that there _was_ no one connected to Anakin; they had all died in the horrible wars, except for the boy, and it had not come from him. Dritali said it had been given to her by Darth Vader, a high-ranking Imperial official whose undefined purpose seemed to be to strike terror into anyone who saw him. One of the Imperial orphans had said his father referred to Vader as "the dotted line on the command chart"; another had said that she'd heard him called "the Executioner," though there was some argument about whether or not that was a mistaken hearing of the name of his flagship. Without exception, the Imperial children looked at him with a baffled mixture of terror and awe. The Rebel children added "hate" to the list. He was apparently a very effective military leader. 

At any rate, Vader had lived up to the terror of his reputation when he'd seen Dritali's father beating her with a strap. "I thought I was going to die," Dritali said. "Then... _he_ showed up." She never spoke Vader's name again, after the first time. It was a superstitious dread, even deeper than the other children's. "He killed my father. Then he gave me this and said to come here and show it to you." 

Dritali felt guilty that she was glad her father was gone. Kit tried to soothe her, and never asked questions about what had happened. 

But the bracelet. And the whole thing. It was... 

It was flatly impossible, except that it wasn't. 

The dates were right. Vader had appeared just after -- 

No. Impossible. Couldn't be. 

But it was unquestionably so. And the thought of what he had gone through, and what he put other people through, turned Kit's stomach. 

Now, Dritali had mostly bounced back (she still had occasional bouts of melancholy, but the really frightening dreams had ended), and she was chatting amiably with a Rodian girl and a little boy who'd lost his parents when the Rebels had blown up the Death Star. He'd had a fight once with an Alderaanian girl, but now the two of them spoke frequently, and were trying to hammer out some kind of meaning. Kit envied them the ability. 

Dritali still wore the bracelet. She would not allow it out of her sight. 

Impossible. 

"Hey, Kit, do we get anything real to eat?" the boy called amiably. "Or just this bantha food?" 

"You'll eat what's in front of you, Vertash," Kit said, giving him a smile. The children's habit was to offer a token complaint. He didn't know when they'd gotten in the habit, and had once expressed hurt. But the Alderaanian girl -- Kerea -- had apologized, then told him that they'd never make that joke if they really thought he wasn't giving them enough to eat. He didn't understand their sense of humor, but as she explained it, the fact that they joked was to tell him that they were content. "Now," he said, "who will open the door to see if there's anyone hungry outside?" 

A few hands went up. It was an honor to be the first to welcome a stranger to the 

hall, and opening the door every night wasn't always an empty ritual. 

Kit chose Dritali, and she ran to the large door, and swung it open. "Anyone hungry, come and eat!" she yelled into the desert. 

"How kind of you," someone said on the other side. Then there was a laugh that chilled Kit to the core. 

Dritali screamed, and ran back inside. Her arms wrapped around his waist and she peeked out from under his arm. 

A shadow fell across the door, and Kit saw something out of a child's nightmare. The thing in the dark robes was patterned in red and black, and had sharp horns growing out of its head. Its eyes were yellow, and its very teeth were painted with arcane evil. 

Still, Kit Jarai knew that hospitality in the desert was a matter of life or death. His offer was honest and true. But he thought he'd find some way to start sneaking the chidlren out while the stranger wasn't looking. That also might be a matter of life or death. "Welcome to my home," he managed to whisper.

------------------ 

Jar Jar Binks sat in the astromech droid room, his elbows on his knees, wondering if there was some way this all worked out to be his fault. He didn't guess there was, but he didn't feel any better about it. 

Jar Jar was a creature who listened better than he spoke, though he didn't remember that often enough, and he'd picked up a lot about what was going on. He knew the basics. And he figured it might be just a little bit better if he didn't start messing around in future stuff. The only future thing he'd seen so far was Anakin's protocol droid, who was wandering around the ship looking confused. Someone must have memory-wiped him, because he didn't know Jar Jar at all. 

"Are you all right?" someone asked. 

He turned around, figuring that he would see one of the pilots, or maybe even Padmé coming back, but what he found was the Queen herself, in her black feathers and white makeup. She was frowning at him, looking concerned. 

Jar Jar stood up too quickly and hit his head, knocking himself back down to the floor. "Yes, yousa Majesty," he said, trying to turn it into a bow. "Mesa just sitting and thinking." 

"As was I," the queen said. She moved into the room, and stood staring emptily at the wall. Then, to Jar Jar's complete surprise, she loosened three buttons at her neck, and pulled off the headdress. Lank bits of brown hair tumbled to her shoulders, looking flat and lifeless after so much time confined. She reached for a rag that was usually used to clean droids, and wiped at her face angrily. She turned, and Jar Jar saw that furious tears were in her eyes. "I've had enough!" 

He went over to her, and took the rag. "Here, yousa Majesty," he said, as politely as he knew how (you couldn't just talk any old way to a Queen). He reached out and lightly wiped away a smear of the makeup under her eye. She didn't yell at him, so he finished cleaning her face, since she couldn't very well see to do it herself without a mirror. "Wesa going to get you cleaned up, and then wesa going home. Deysa good at fixing things -- Ani, and Padmé, and Qui-Gon. Deysa get everything back in order in no time." 

She sniffed, and waved an impatient hand at him. Without the makeup, she just looked like any other Naboo girl, or at least the way Jar Jar figured all Naboo girls looked. "I have to do something," she said. "Sitting here is driving me mad." 

"But yousa Majesty, yousa shouldn't be going out where it might be dangerous." 

The Queen shook her head. "Can I trust you with a secret?" 

Jar Jar nodded. Physical things were likely to get broken around him, but he was good at keeping secrets. "Sure thing." 

The Queen looked over her shoulder. "Her Majesty _is_ out there where it's dangerous, and she has no reason to be. I should be the one taking the risks. I'm her bodyguard."

------------------ 

The Emperor sat in his throne room on Courscant, drilling holes with his stare. The not-quite-man was talking very quietly. "Darth Vader did what?" 

A tall young man, wearing the uniform of one in Imperial Intelligence, shuddered at the cold look. "He...just left. Intelligence is looking for him as we speak but we have no leads!" 

"Do you have any reasons as to why?" The Look said he had better. 

"No, my Emperor." The tall man held up his hands though, a sif to ward off an attack. "There is other news though, that I am sure you would like to hear." 

"If it is not good, I will kill you." Palpatine cackled as he spoke and his eyes glowed. 

"A certain Captain Kalara has reported that Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia and Han Solo are on Tatooine. Also, a few people who almost certainly could not be there. Certain... aspects make me not doubt his story though." 

"Explain." Palpatine tapped his fingers against his chair arm. 

"He gave the name of his contact, not a very smart man, and.. It was Watto. Background checking shows he owned Anakin Skywalker as a child. Precisly the sort of person they would go to. One who cares little about laws would meet the needs of Rebels." 

The Emperor's voice showed his annoyance. "Come out with it child! Who else is on the planet?" 

"Anakin Skywalker. Queen Amidala, her bodyguards, two Jedi Knights, of the old kind. A Master Qui-Gon Jinn and Padawan Obi-Wan Kenobi. They could bring back the old ways, Emperor." 

"This will not happen!" He thought for a moment and then spoke. "Set up my private transport. I am taking a vacation to Tatooine. Do pack the money for that miscreant who informed Kalara." 

The Imperial's eyes widened briefly and he scurried off to set the plans in motion.

------------------ 

Darth Maul grinned as he ate his food in the Dining Hall, creating no small amount of shrieks from the children. _Master ... You're coming!_

Maul knew, intellectually at least, that his Master would be a very different person from who he had been a day ago. He just couldn't stop the dark joy that came of thinking of the man who had raised him since fifteen, taught him the Dark Arts and given him everything he had ever wanted. 

The idea of his Master coming to Tatooine, presumbly to pick him up, was just a happy thought. It gave him almost as much joy as scaring the children. He wasn't going to permantly harm them, just scare. 

Darth Maul stood up, bared his teeth at the smaller ones and brought out his lightsaber for a laugh. Kit ran over, gasping and still managed to say, "We do have rules against fighting in here!" 

__

Right, I'm really going to kill dozens of children for no reason. Doesn't he know how easy it would be for some to get away and alert the Jedi about me? By the Force, these people are dense. Besides, this way I get to cause fear in the small ones. 

"It's not time to kill innocent children until twenty-two hundred, basic." He stalked off, holding in a grin as he turned his lightsaber on, watching as the children gawked. 

I think I like this time.

------------------ 

Anakin found himself bored with the fancy speeder pretty quickly. It wasn't banged up too bad, and didn't need much skill. Leia had taken to repairs fast -- she smiled and said she'd "had some experience with malfunctioning junkpiles" -- and between them, they'd almost finished the three speeders Watto had left him with. They worked smoothly and easily together, and Anakin almost never had to give her instructions (and when he did, she understood immediately what he meant, even if he hadn't said quite as clearly as he should have). 

He liked her a lot, as much as he liked Padmé, but it was different. He knew it was crazy, because she said she was a princess and he knew that she hadn't been born yet when he lived, but he felt like he'd known her for a long time, like maybe she was one of the dusty kids he played with in Mos Espa. Being around her was like being around Mom or Kitster. He didn't have to tell her stuff, because she already knew stuff. Anakin felt perfectly safe with her. Which was more than he could say for Luke. He'd loved his totally impossible son right away, but Luke was keeping a secret, and he... 

__

He doesn't trust me. For some reason, he looks at me like he's waiting for me to turn purple and start spitting fire out of my mouth. 

"Hey, you awake?" 

He turned to find Leia smiling at him. His hands were floating dreamily over an engine. He didn't know how long he'd been still like this. "I'm not sure." 

She smiled back at him. "Me, neither. But we still better finish up. I'd rather not stay here too long." 

"Right," he said. He nodded, and forced his concentration back. Luke was probably just jittery seeing him come back from the 

__

(am i dead i'm not sure) 

dead and probably figuring out about Padmé, too. Sure. "I don't want to ask Luke," he said, "because I don't want to make him sad or anything, but how did I die?" 

"I'm not sure I should tell you that." 

"Why, think I might try to prevent it?" 

"That's a good point. You should know. I bet it would be better if you did. I don't know what he meant before about not being sure. I guess he's just a little unsure about it. They always told him you died in an accident, but just before I met him, he found out that you were a Jedi. And that you were -- " She swallowed and looked away. "Um, this is hard. You were murdered. And betrayed." 

This was kind of interesting, Anakin thought. He wasn't nearly as troubled hearing it as Leia was telling it. "Really? By who? Do they know?" 

"He's a high-ranking official in the Empire now. His name is..." She paused, some awful memory going through her mind. Anakin saw an image of something very big blowing up. "His name is Vader. Watch out for him." 

Anakin tried to think of something to say to that. He didn't feel like anything had changed, so apparently he would forget stuff when they went back, or maybe he'd just forget over the years, or maybe Vader wasn't the first name he'd know for this person -- 

A cold icepick drilled itself into his conscious mind at this last. That was it, then. He'd have to watch out for someone, but the name wasn't really Vader, so he didn't know who he was watching for. He thought that "Vader" might have been a word in his mother's native language, which she spoke quietly to herself sometimes, and which he'd picked up a little of, but he didn't know what it meant, or even if he'd heard it right. 

"Thanks for the heads-up," he said. 

"Sure." 

But it was unsatisfying, somehow. Maybe it was just because he hoped that if he had to be dead, it would be in battle, doing something heroic and brave, not getting stabbed in the back. But he didn't think so. 

The answer about his death was unsatisfying because he was pretty sure he was still alive.

------------------ 

Darth Vader was entranced with his new lightsaber. _Lightsabers, it should be called_, he thought. He was learning to use it fast, and was doing well. Now, he was practicing with twenty rapid-fire training remotes in the Great Temple on Yavin IV. 

As the remotes sent volley after volley of stinging fire against the Dark Lord, Vader used all four blades to his advantage, blocking every single shot. Originally, there had been forty remotes; twenty of them had already been deactivated. Darth Vader was feeling very confident in himself, and Exar Kun, the dead-spirit Sith Lord, seemed pleased with his progress. 

"Mr friend, I believe that you are almost ready for Maul and your Jedi on Tatooine. Everyone else who had used this saber had killed themselves by now. There is just one last exercise that you need to complete." 

"And that would be what, Master Kun?" anxiously replied Vader. 

"you have to take on four HRDs." 

" 'HRD'? I am not familiar with them." 

"A HRD is a Human Replica Droid. They are an ancient Sith technology that died with me, as I never told anyone about it. I built many of them, to fight with lightsabers, like Jedi, for practice." 

"Ahhh," replied Vader in accordance. Just as he was finished speaking, four creatures in Jedi robes appeared out of a hidden passageway. All brandishing lightsabers, they lowered their hoods. 

As the fight ensued, Vader easily held all four off, at the same time aggressing them. When one lost its footing, he would take advantage of it, getting rid of the HRD, while still holding off the others. None of them had had any chance whatsoever to harm him. 

"Good, good. You are ready, Darth Vader, for the Jedi." 

As Darth Vader took off from the hanger of the Temple, he bid his farewell to Exar Kun, and headed for Tatooine.

------------------ 

Luke sat on the low sandstone wall, looking up at the familiar stars. He'd been so focused on finding Han and destroying Jabba that he hadn't really been _home_, not in any meaningful way. The stars were soothing. 

The Force shifted around him, in the now-familiar pattern, and he didn't have to look down from the sky to see his father standing beside him. "I watch 'em, too." 

Luke lowered his eyes. Father had taken a seat across from him, crossing his legs and looking up. "They look the same as they did last night." He held out his arm, which was bandaged. "Qui-Gon was fixing this. It's still cut. I cut it thirty years ago. Isn't that weird?" 

"Yes, it is, Father." 

He looked up at the sky. "Leia told me." 

Luke's heart went cold. If he knew, then... 

No. Leia didn't know. He hadn't been able to bring himself to tell her what had happened deep in the underbelly of Cloud City, at least not all of it. 

"Told you what?" 

"About being murdered and betrayed." 

"Oh." 

"It's not true, is it?" His eyes came down to Luke's, suddenly bright and intense. 

"I don't know." 

__

You can tell him, and he'll turn back. Or what if he likes it? What if he likes the idea that someday he'll be strong and powerful, and everyone will do as he says? What if it... 

"Can I see your hand?" 

Luke instinctively drew his mechanical hand toward himself, the freshly gouged wrist making clicking noises as it bent. "I'd rather not." 

"How'd it get hurt?" 

"Someone at Jabba's shot me in the wrist this morning." 

To his surprise and relief, Father didn't ask how he'd ended up with a mechanical hand in the first place. Instead, he just raised his eyebrows. "Jabba? Jabba the Hutt?" 

"Yes. Hadn't anyone told you that?" 

"No. I mean, I saw Lando's uniform, and I thought about Jabba and everything, but I figured probably I was wrong, after all this time. How come you were at Jabba's?" 

"We were pulling Han out of a bad situation. The Empire had sold him to Jabba." 

"The Empire makes deals with Jabba?" 

Luke allowed himself a smile. "Not any more, they don't." 

"Good. But it's too bad it took so long." 

__

You're the one who made the deal! You're the one who froze Han in metal for six months! You're the one who cut my hand off and dropped my life into a pit that I haven't hit the bottom of yet! 

"You're angry at me." 

The sudden barrage of Luke's thought faded quickly, and he looked at Father's earnest young face. "What? No." 

"Yes, you are. Why?" 

"I'm not angry." Luke noticed that his tone was making a lie of the words, and that made his temper roil up a little further. Where was this coming from? Did he just have this power? Is this part of what he can do, just make people feel these dark side things? 

No, that wasn't fair. The anger was his own, and it wasn't coming from anywhere else, and it wasn't directed at this poor, frightened boy in front of him. He tried to imagine those bright eyes behind Vader's mask. 

And succeeded. 

He shook the image away, and held out his mechanical hand. "Here. It's pretty well put together." 

Father looked at it with a mechanic's interest, poking his small fingers into the laser hole and moving some of the little levers around, making the fingers twitch. "Does it hurt?" 

"Feels a little funny, but that part doesn't have fake nerves. They're in the skin." 

"So why have the skin?" 

Luke drew his hand away, not sure he was capable of having this conversation. "It's better to be able to feel. I mean, without the nerves, you wouldn't be able to touch anything, right?" 

He looked puzzled. "But it would stop hurting." 

"Does your cut hurt?" 

"Yeah." 

"Enough that you'd rather not be able to touch anything with that arm?" 

"Oh. I get it." 

__

Somehow, Luke thought, _I doubt that._

Father's face had gone quiet and thoughtful, and Luke could see the man he might have been in it, if the Dark Side hadn't taken him. 

He felt guilt for his own rising anger, and reached out to ruffle his father's hair again, feeling a confused echo of the affection he'd felt earlier, in the daylight. 

Father smiled, and all the affection came back, and Luke realized helplessly that, Bespin or no, he loved him, and still held in his mind the completely contradictory images of the strong and heroic Jedi knight, the spice freighter captain who'd died for his crew -- the one Aunt Beru and Uncle Owen had introduced him to... and the tall, dark lord who had reached out one strong hand, and 

__

(pleaded) 

demanded that Luke join him. 

Luke took that hand now, the small hand, and held it tightly, wishing there were some way to save all of the men this boy would become.

------------------ 

Leia stared off into the stars from the small balcony. The Jedi, Luke and herself had checked into rooms for the night at a small hotel while the others stayed on the transport. 

Han had asked her if she would stay on the Millennium Falcon but she had said no, citing reasons against it, claiming she couldn't contact the Rebellion from the Falcon. 

__

Now I wish I had taken him up on the offer. 

She had gone into her room after she had caught a quick meal and contacted Mon Mothma through secure channels. The conversation hadn't been long but what Mon Mothma had said, spoke for itself. 

__

"Another Death Star is in construction. It nears completion, we need you and Commander Skywalker for a last ditch effort. Han Solo as well, if he's up to it. 

It was just like Mon Mothma to forget Han, she was always doing that. The woman didn't like him and had constantly told Leia to forget him and concentrate on the Rebellion. Even for something as important as a Death Star, Mon Mothma couldn't forget her pettiness. 

Interrupting her thoughts, she heard a small cough. Obi-Wan was standing on the neighboring balcony, looking below. Following his gaze, she saw Luke and Skywalker talking quietly. 

"I think we're not the only ones looking at the stars tonight, Princess." Obi-Wan smiled softly, his lips curving just a little. 

"Just Leia. The world that called me that isn't... It isn't my world anymore." Leia caught her slip of the tongue just in time, she had forgotten he couldn't know about Alderaan. 

She sighed, she was trying to get her mind off the new Death Star, not back on it. "I'm sorry. If you wish to alone, I'll leave." 

Obi-Wan turned to leave and almost unconsciously, she reached out to put a hand on his shoulder. "Don't." Surprised at her own force, Leia continued quickly. "I mean, can we talk? I'd like to learn more about the Jedi. Most of what I heard growing up was Imperial propaganda. And most of that was about how you wanted to dominate the universe with your alien love-slaves." 

Quirking a grin, Obi-Wan's eyes twinkled. "Let's see. Where should I start about my path to galactic-domination?" 

Looking at him, Leia decided she didn't really care what they talked about, as long as they talked. He seemed like a nice guy, one she would regret not knowing if she just went inside. "Can you tell me about Qui-Gon?" 

As Obi-Wan talked, Leia leaned on the balcony rail separating the two. After a good half-hour of idle chatter, Leia grabbed his hand just paying attention to his voice and not her actions. 

She realized what she had done when the young man gave her a look of surprise, one she decided she liked and would try to get again sometime. 

I have to say one good thing for Father. He had good taste in allies.

------------------ 

Amidala had watched Ani come inside with Leia, before he'd headed out to talk to Luke. They were both smiling, looking pleasantly tired, and... 

Alike. 

Not in any physical way, except a vague similarity in their smiles, and a shared roundness of features. But there was something about them, about the way they moved, about their expressions... 

She tried to shake it off -- it didn't make sense -- but found that she couldn't. There was something about Leia, some secret, hidden thing. And that look. That look that occasionally came her own way, the look of someone who had a secret that she was desperate to tell, but forbidden. Amidala wanted her to tell, except that she didn't. Enough had happened today. She knew more than she wanted to, except that she didn't know nearly enough. 

Her head was spinning, and she laid down on the small cot that served as a bed (not a place of luxury lodgings, Mos Espa, in any era). The ceiling seemed to turn in a lazy circle. She let her eyes close, but didn't slip down into sleep. It was just too much. She had a strange idea that if she just closed her eyes, she would wake up in her bed at the palace in Theed, and the blockade wouldn't have happened. Sure. This was all a dream, and she was having it the night of her coronation. 

It was a comforting idea, but she knew it wasn't true, and she'd better not start acting like it was, or she'd end up dead, the children with her. 

Her eyes opened wide, and the room had stopped spinning. 

Children. 

Both of them. They are both my children, and Ani's. Luke and Leia. _But they don't know it._

"Logic," she whispered out loud. Somehow, she'd made an intuitive connection, and she knew it was right, but the logic of it seemed suddenly vital. Her children, raised separately from one another, and not with her, though Leia ... Leia might remember something. 

They never knew Ani, and Leia doesn't think she has any connection to him, or that I have any connection to Luke. 

Separated from each other, and from us. Why? 

It had to be some kind of danger, because Amidala was sure enough of her own nature to know that she would not simply abandon either of her children, and at the very least, she'd left Luke before he remembered her. And where was Ani? Dead, except that Luke said he wasn't sure. 

Nothing she thought of made any sense of it. Maybe there was a threat against them, in retaliation for something Ani would do before he died? Or maybe... 

Maybe. 

It would always come back to maybe. 

And _maybe_ it would be better if I just don't find out. Maybe that would be better for everyone. 

But complacency was not in Amidala's nature. Questions were meant to be answered, otherwise they would not be asked. But there was no one here who would know -- 

Unless... 

She sat up. It was possible, anyway. He might have survived, and if he had, he might know. 

She slipped out unnoticed, and began to ask around after Kitster.

------------------ 

Darth Vader mentally sighed as he landed his ship in the Mos Espa spaceport. He had been hoping that at this hour, the spaceport would be close to empty. No such luck. 

With extreme dignity, Vader exited his small ship and took a look around, trying to find a quick way outside. Scanning the crowd, he cursed silently. "If any of you take a holo-picture of myself, you will wish you had not. You have my word." 

"Someday, Vader, we will get our freedom back from your violent reign." A young reporter with bright blue eyes and auburn hair spoke with disgust plain in his voice as he stared at Vader. 

Vader hesitated for moment, an inner voice whispering to him. _He looks like Obi-Wan did. Before.... Before everything started._

"You should be careful with who you speak such things to, young one." With that he left to pursue more important things, like finding Maul. 

Searching through his mind for suitable place to go, he remembered Kitster. His old childhood friend had renovated an old Hutt lair for young children and other sorts who were homeless. _I could stay there. Less public at any rate and my staying there would prevent any nosy reporters from finding me._

Renting a small but fast speeder, he arrived at The Sanctuary soon enough. Walking up the door a little uncertainly, the Sith knocked. A very small child answered and wide eyed, she let him in. "Sir? Are you really Darth Vader?" 

__

No, I dress like this so I can go out on the town and enjoy myself. 

"Yes, child, I am..." Abruptly, Vader stopped speaking as he felt the Force twitch nervously. He knew who it was, who it had to be, to make the Force react like that. 

__

maul...killer...he started me on my path...turned me into a monster... 

Vader clenched down on the small part inside that always rebelled as he turned to see the Sith who had started him on the path to ruination. "Darth Maul."

------------------ 

Kit went forward warily, and put a hand on Vertash's shoulder. Vader -- Anakin, and Kit had absolutely no doubt of that now; Vader might have known of Sanctuary, but Anakin would have thought to come here -- had suddenly looked up, straight over Vertash's head. 

The mask was disorienting, an expressionless death's head, but Kit thought he could see the expression beneath it in his mind: eyes narrowed, brows pushed together. Lips pressed hard against each other. The "I-know-its-here-somewhere-and-I'm-not-leaving-'til-I-get-it" look. Kit knew it well. 

"What are you looking for?" he asked. 

"If it is here, Kit, and I know well it is, then you have no reason to ask that." 

Of course. The other one. "I can't just hand you my guests, however much I would like to." 

"Then Lord Vader is _my_ guest!" a high voice called, and Dritali appeared. Her eyes were wide and her color high, and Kit could hear the tremor of terror in her voice... but she came forward anyway. The last piece fell into place: the girl looked like Amidala. Not enought be a sister -- or even a handmaiden -- but enough that it would have driven Anakin mad to see her beaten. "He can stay here. Right, Kit?" 

"Hush, Dritali. He has always been welcome here. He was here at the beginning." Kit raised his eyes, to see Vader's reaction. There was none -- but there was certainly no denial. Anakin had been with Kit and Seek and Amee and Wald (how the names all came back, in a terrible rush) when they'd discovered this place, and first used it as a sanctuary during the slave uprising. "But both he and the one he seeks must abide by the rules of my house. If there is a conflict, it will be outside." 

"As you wish," Vader said. 

Kit looked at the mechanical respiration suit with a caretaker's eye. "Have you any medical needs?" 

"None that need be immediately indulged, and I will not be staying long." 

------------------ 

Amidala made her way through the desert, the night wind cool and refreshing on her face. It hadn't been hard to find out about Kitster, or to get directions to Sanctuary, at least not once she'd gotten someone's attention. Apparently, a high official in the Imperial government had arrived. Amidala had caught a brief glimpse of him -- flowing black robes, masked face, and some sound that she couldn't identify in the crowd. 

She had time to think, _The poor man_, before epithets were hurled, and whispers started around her about the things people had heard of him doing. Getting attention for more mundane questions had been a real exercise. But finally, she had found a man who looked about what her age would really be, and asked if he'd known of someone who'd been called "Kitster" as a child. 

__

Oh, you mean Kit Jarai... sure, everyone knows Kit... 

And he'd given her directions. She didn't have any money to rent a speeder with, but the walk was only about six kilometers, and she was rested. 

Some animal hooted in the night, and another answered with an eerie scream, but Amidala was not afraid of them. For one thing, she was simply not given to fear of nature. For another, she'd -- well, _borrowed_ -- Leia's blaster (brought from a ship apparently berthed not too far from here, along with something more comfortable than the ridiculous dancing girl's outfit), and she was a good shot. 

She passed a spray of gravel in the sand -- a speeder had been through here recently, going at a good clip. She looked down the trail it had left, and thought she saw a light, glimmering down near the end of it. But distance was deceptive in the desert -- it could be Sanctuary, or it could be another city, halfway across the Dune Sea. 

She would have to find out. 

And the dark _was_ strangely pleasant.

------------------ 

Vader preferred to stand in company, and the spot he chose was in a shadowy corner of the Sanctuary, where he could observe all of them. He was gratified that the girl Dritali had found her way here, but distanced himself from her quickly. That business had been strange and disorienting, a sudden, righteous fury -- almost like the old days, when the raw anger had drawn him to the Darkness in the first place -- but he was glad it had happened. He was not likely to receive accolades for his own parenting skills -- he could not shake the image of Luke, holding his mutilated wrist against his side -- but even he had never stooped to attacking his son before Luke was old enough to defend himself... and even then, he would have preferred a less confrontational meeting, had it not been far too late to think of such amenities. Dritali's father had simply bullied and pushed, and, in Vader's opinion, forfeited any right he had to be treated as a sentient citizen of the Empire. Still, he _had_ been the girl's father; it was inappropriate to allow her to show gratitude to the man who had killed him. 

Maul was near, but he'd slipped out of the building. It was temporarily acceptable -- certain complications had occurred to him in the quiet of Kit's home (well, relative quiet -- with twenty-odd children in the room, it was not precisely silent, but it _was_ calming, in its own chaotic way), complications that could have vast consequences. Maul's presence in the past, detestable as it was, had served an historical purpose. If he killed Maul, it would set off a chain of events that would cause... _everything_ to be different. 

The thought had its appeal, as he listened to the slow, miserable pulse of the pneumatics. How he hated the suit! How he hated the way people gawked at him! (Children, at least, tended to get used to it quickly. The orphans had stared frankly at him, and a boy had asked if it hurt, then they had gone back to their routine, only glancing nervously at him now and then. Adults tried to pretend they weren't looking, but they looked longer.) 

But what else might go with it? It could easily complicate other matters, and there _was_ Luke to consider. And... 

Her face floated up unbidden his mind, and he sent it back where it came from easily. But could he as easily erase the memory from existence? 

And do I want to go back to being that weak child, pushed and pulled by a bitter old Toydarian? And would the old hypocrites on the Council have changed their minds about training me if obstinate, rebellious old Qui-Gon had demanded permission, instead of their golden boy Obi-Wan? 

Highly unlikely. 

Perhaps Palpatine would still have found him. Perhaps... 

"Welcome back," Kit said, coming into the shadow. 

"I am not interested in pretending a social event, Kit." 

Kit, who had not lost his ability to assimilate to any odd idea, given a moment to get used to it, just shrugged, and looked out the back door, toward the small field that was used for moisture farming. It produced just enough to keep the more traditional farm underground irrigated. Maul had slipped out into those fields. He was waiting there, for an opportunity to strike. Kit did not need to be told; he intuited it. "Who is this man?" 

"One who has no business being here. He must be sent back to his... home." 

To his death, tomorrow, at Obi-Wan's hands. 

After he has killed Qui-Gon. 

__

And now, I will be responsible for that, as well. The one thing in my life for which I bore no guilt. Very well. So be it. What is one more murder, after all the others? 

"Anakin?" 

"That is no longer my name. It has not been for many, many years." 

Kit shrugged. "Vader, then. I'm not picky. Are the children in danger from this man?" 

Vader shook his head. "I doubt it. Unless they get in his way. Or present themselves as targets. If they are intelligent, they will simply give him a wide berth when he returns. They do not interest him." 

"Where has he gone?" 

"Into the desert." He looked out, his inner eyes scanning the desert. "He is -- " 

He stopped, as his mind found another pattern, another impossible presence. On the road. Walking toward Maul. His prey. 

"Amidala," he whispered. It was the first time he'd said the word aloud in more years than he could remember, but he didn't even notice that he'd said it. 

He headed out into the night, saber at his side. 

------------------ 

Dritali waited until Kit was looking away from the door. Then she followed shadow into shadow, and disappeared into the dark. 


	3. Chapter 3

As far as a disclaimer, you know the drill.

------------------ 

Leia noticed that her mother was gone an hour after she came back from Watto's shop. 

She'd cleaned up, meaning to go and talk to her, but she'd gotten distracted talking to Obi-Wan. Truth was, she was nervous, frightened of tipping her hand, and she didn't know why. She'd finally screwed up her courage, and gone to her mother's room to tell her everything... 

Only to find the room empty. 

She'd slipped away. 

"Luke!" 

She ran out onto the balcony where Luke and his father were speaking quietly. "Luke, hurry, she's gone!" 

"Who's gone?" the younger/older Skywalker asked. 

"My m-- Padmé!" She heard tears in the back of her voice. It wasn't fair. Why hadn't she said anything? 

"What is it?" someone said behind her. Qui-Gon Jinn entered, straightening his poncho. Obi-Wan was a few steps behind, looking concerned. 

Anakin Skywalker's eyes were wide and terrified, and Leia realized that he thought of her mother as 

__

(an angel) 

something special and fragile... that he loved her, simply and unconditionally. 

__

How strange, a calm, distant part of her whispered. _How strange that Luke's father cares so much for my mother, but neither of us ever knew it._

There was not time to ponder it. 

"Please, we have to find her." 

Qui-Gon nodded. "Yes, immediately." 

Luke put a hand on her arm. "Leia, are you all right? Why are you so -- ?" 

Leia shook her head. "I told you I was adopted. She's my mother. We have to find 

her. Please." 

Luke's face went blank with shock, then suddenly he kissed her forehead. "We'll find her," he said. "Then I think we need to talk." 

Anakin Skywalker was staring at her, mouth open. Then, abruptly, he ran for the door. Whatever shock it had been passed, and instead of saying he was going to go, he just did it. 

The others followed. 

As they reached the door of the lodging place, they stopped suddenly. 

In a semi-circle in the dusty street were at least twenty stormtroopers, blasters drawn. Standing -- or rather, hovering -- beside the only officer, was Watto. "You see?" he said, holding out his hand for a reward. "I told you they were here."

------------------ 

Lando woke up to the sound of yelling, in the middle of the night. Rubbing his eyes, he overheard bits and pieces of a heated conversation. 

"He's.... Chewie! We have to." 

__

"Young one... You must not..." 

"No! I have...." 

Then he heard a crash and Lando rushed out of bed, almost glad that he had fallen asleep in his clothes. He took off for the cockpit, pulling on his boots as he ran, a skill he had learned from being an Administrator on Bespin. Seconds later, he found an unconscious Han and an irritated Chewie. Lando put up his hands, backing away ever-so-slightly from the angry Wookie. "Chewie... Want to explain?" 

__

"Han wanted to go after Leia. He actually tried to push me so he could leave. The boy has a death wish, I think. Is there some self-help group for that? I could sign Luke and Leia up as well." 

"Actually, there is one. I looked it up for Luke once and..." Lando trailed off when he saw the stare Chewie was giving him. 

"Anyway, Chewie, why is Han unconscious?" Lando smiled nervously, hoping Chewie wouldn't take offense. 

__

"He fell wrong." Chewie's eyes bored in Lando and he gulped silently. 

"Okay, how did he fall?" Lando forced himself to take in a deep breath and not let himself be intimidated by the tame Wookie. 

__

"I hit him." Never mind. There's definitely no such thing a tame Wookie. 

"So... Why?" Lando was getting a little confused, he almost thought that was Chewie's point. But the Wookie wouldn't be that devious, right? 

__

"He was about to go after Leia." Chewie spoke with all seriousness, sending out no signals that he was trying to be funny. 

"Now why does he want to go after Leia?" Lando was getting a little frustrated but he knew better then to show it. All showing frustration did what get others angrier then they already were. Not that smart a thing to do with a Wookie. 

__

"Darth Vader is on planet. Han is afraid for Leia. I told him if Darth Vader saw him gallivanting around, not only would he be captured, so would Leia, Luke, the Queen, you and the Jedi Knights. He would not listen." 

"So you knocked him out. Great. Chewie, didn't your Mother ever tell you violence only helps?" Lando realized what he had said and cursed his sleep fogged brain. "HURTS! I didn't mean help! Violence doesn't help!" 

Chewie was growling softly at this point, his version of a chuckle. _"I know... I just don't know what to do with him. I couldn't let him go out and get himself killed."_

With that Chewie lifted Han onto his shoulder, intending to carry him to the bunks. Lando called after him, thinking out loud. "Should I call the Queen's transport? They deserve to know about Darth Vader so they don't go venturing out."" 

Chewie nodded a yes and Lando turned to the comm. After a minute of trying to get though, he came to a realization. "Communications are being blocked!" He knew what this meant, big trouble. 

Lando stood up and found Chewie was suddenly right behind him. _"We need to go find them now, Lando."_

Lando couldn't help but wonder 'them who' but he kept his mouth shut, picked up a blaster and followed Chewie outside. "Ya know, Chew, it just figures Han would find a way to get out of a fight like this."

------------------ 

Sabé peeled the black dress off, guiltily relieved to be free of it. She didn't have time to enjoy the cool air coming through the cotton undergarment, though... she had to put on something more practical. Rabé was rifling through the wardrobe containers, looking for anything that it was remotely possible to move freely in. She finally found the maroon uniforms that were made for military parades, somewhere under a strange gray and white concoction with a stripe on the hood. 

There was a battle dress for the queen, as well. Eirtaé held it out, the padded headpiece resting on top of it. Sabé sighed. She should not have broken rank with Jar Jar Binks earlier; it was time to get back to work. She looked wistfully at the more comfortable uniform, then reluctantly took the queen's dress. Though why the queen should need ceremonial battle gear... 

Not Sabé's business. She'd already fixed her makeup, and she slipped into the new gown and high boots while Rabé and Eirtaé put on the maroon velvet. It looked a bit fancy for the desert, but easier to maneuver in than the flame dresses. Sabé hit the button beside the door, and Panaka, Olie, and Jar Jar came in. Behind them, the nervous protocol droid from the future was hovering, one hand slightly raised. 

"This could be dangerous," Ric Olie said. "You've never been on this planet before, let alone in this time, and there may be things we don't know." 

Sabé put on her best regal voice -- there were advantages to being the queen -- and said, "Captain Olie, you have a remarkable penchant for stating the obvious." He gave her a baffled look; she didn't pay attention to it. "Now, we have lost contact with the other ship, the ship from the current time. We have been given good reason to assume that is a prelude to something worse. We will all leave this ship, because it has clearly been identified, and not by friendly agents. If I am to be in danger, I should prefer to be in danger in a vast open desert to being in danger trapped in precisely the place where my enemy expects me to be." 

"Her Highness is right," Panaka said, gathering handing out blasters efficiently (and if anything ever should have tipped people off about the identity switch, it was that Panaka often agreed with Sabé on security matters, but had yet to agree with Amidala). "This place is no longer safe, and we can't risk altering the timeline by allowing ourselves to be attacked at this point." 

"If it's all the same to you," Eirtaé said, "I don't particularly want to be attacked at any point, and the timeline isn't my first priority." 

The party gathered, insisting that the pilots and mechanics rescued in the hangar join them as well. They were about twenty-five strong when they set out across the desert. 

Sabé led the way, alongside Panaka. Jar Jar Binks walked beside her clumsily, sometimes tripping over rocks strewn in the sand, but he didn't let himself fall behind. He looked terrified... but he stayed his ground. 

Two kilometers from the ship, they saw approaching figures. There was no place to hide such a large group, so Sabé signaled everyone to stand at guard, with blasters at the ready. Panaka stepped in front of her. 

A chilling howl broke the night, then shattered into sharp barking. Sabé clutched her blaster tighter, then remembered that one of their new companions was a Wookiee. 

"Chewbacca!" the protocol droid said, throwing his hands in the air. "Oh, at last. I seem to have -- " 

The man with the Wookiee -- Calrissian, Sabé remembered -- cut the droid off. "We need to get into town. How many of you are there?" 

"Twenty five," Panaka said. 

"The Empire has sent agents for my friends. And yours, I'd bet. I don't what Luke was thinking letting Kenobi go into town dressed as a Jedi. That's like putting a homing beacon out. People see a Jedi, they know they're going to get money from the Empire for reporting it." 

Sabé didn't quite understand it. Certainly, Jedi were not everyday visitors, but there were enough that it shouldnt' cause such a stir. But there was no time to wonder about such niceties. "Very well. We'll come to your aid." 

"Great," Calrissian said. "Let's just hope they didn't send a very _big_ landing party." 

Sabé smiled, remembering how Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon had cleared a hangar of battle droids in less than five mintes. "It shouldn't be a problem," she said, and led the way toward town.

------------------ 

Luke watched as Obi-Wan held in a smirk and brought his lightsaber out within a second. "I confess to not knowing much about this time but I do know when someone is breaking the law---" 

In a flash of an eye, Obi-Wan was down, shot by a Stormtrooper standing on top of a nearby building. A second later, so was Leia and Master Qui-Gon. 

__

NOOO! Not again! Not again! Luke's mind screamed at him to move, to do something. He stood frozen until he saw a 'trooper aim at Father... "No!" 

Luke Force-swung the blaster away, but it did no good, someone else just took the 'troopers place and Father was down. Luke raged out, knocking as many troopers down as he could manage before he found himself in handcuffs. 

The Imperial Captain laughed cruelly and collected the various Lightsabers. "Don't worry Commander, your friends are not dead. My orders currently stand not to hurt anyone before the Emperor's arrival." The Captain spoke this name reverently, as if he was awed at the very name. "Believe me, you'd be stunned too, if it wasn't the Emperor's wish you stay awake." 

Luke twitched and tried to open his handcuffs, with no visible success. The Captain spoke conversationally, grinning. "Force-proof. Nice little bit of technology from the Old Republic to help keep Jedi scum in there place." 

The young Jedi kept quiet as he was pushed along the road, trying to block out Watto complaints about not getting his money right away. Walking, he noticed how the Stormtrooper carrying Father was cradling Father in his arms, unlike the others who were all but being dragged by the hair. _That's something to remember. _

Finally, they reached the outskirts of town and were greeted into the Imperial-class ship. It was large but not excessively so. The Captain's eyes brightened as he looked at Luke and Luke himself questioning the Captain's sanity. "You get to be taken to the holding cells. Have fun!" 

You know, there are some days I feel everyone's out to get me. The rest of the time, I know.

------------------ 

Qui-Gon woke in a small, dingy cell on the hard floor and feeling sore all over. _Obi-Wan? Are you alright?_

__

Yes Master. It seems they just put everyone in cells, to be left alone until some Emporer comes. I have been conferring with Luke and he refuses to tell me anything of importance because of the timeline... Maybe you can convince him, Master? Obi-Wan's voice was tinged with worry and a little fear, not for himself but for his Master. 

Closing the communication with Obi-Wan gently, the Jedi Master contacted Padawan Skywalker. __Luke? Can you tell me more of this situation? 

But the timeline, Master... 

Qui-Gon got up and stretched, trying to get rid of the soreness that came with being stunned. _Young Skywalker, the timeline is shot to Sith anyway. We can just hope we don't remember anything when we go back._

He could almost hear Luke's mental nod, _Fine. We've been taken by Imperials. We did say we were wanted. Watto, apparently, knew that and turned us in for cash. Now, the Emporer is coming to interrogate or kill us. Well, whatever makes him happy, right?_

Ignoring the sarcasm, Qui-Gon crinkled his nose in thought. __Does he think he can really handle a Jedi Master and two Padawans? 

Why not? He and Vader killed all the rest. He heard a small mental chuckle. _Did I mention they were Siths?_

Qui-Gon cut off the communication quickly, he needed to meditate on this. He sat down and let his mind drift with the Force. 

A fire filled the Jedi Temple, smoke was everywhere. The creche leaders were panicked, trying to get the babies out with the Initiates helping. All Padawans and Knights were helping to fight the men in white armor while the alive Masters concerned themselves with the Sith Lords. 

A young female Master fell, electrocuted leaving the temple with a horrible death scream. The Sith Master laughed, enjoying the power that came from her death and killed another. He killed until all that was left was screaming Padawans and young Initiates, too scared to have left. 

Then he and the Sith apprentice exited the scene to enter another, apathetic to the pain of those remaining. The only time they stopped their path of destruction was when the apprentice picked up a small blonde-haired, blue-eyed boy who was about to be killed in the chaos. 

The Temple burned and the infants wailed, the Initiates screamed and the Padawans clutched their heads in agony. 

Qui-Gon broke out his meditation hours later, sweating and feeling as though he had lived all it. Vowing to tell Obi-Wan not to seek visions in this time, he went right to sleep on the small bunk.

------------------ 

Amidala had fallen into a fantasy as she walked through the desert -- she often daydreamed as she walked, though few people knew that -- in which she was stranded here on Tatooine, charged with finding a precious artifact which only she could locate, and she had to find it before the Trade Federation got to it. Silly, she knew. She had enough real worries. But the fantasy helped; after watching Ani race yesterday, she was having a lot of fantasies about going out and taking action on the matter. It seemed like a good thing to do, though of course, Naboo had no army, and she simply couldn't run a war -- negotiations and Senate censure were her only hope. But how she wanted to take it into her own hands! 

"Hello, Your Highness." 

She looked up. 

Daydreaming or no, she'd kept her ears open, but she hadn't heard the black-robed man approach. The attacker from before. From her own time. His face was covered with nightmarish tattoos, and horns grew sharply out of his head. He had a lightsaber on his belt, but it was not drawn. At his size, he hardly needed it to intimidate her. 

"Who are you?" she demanded, then remembered to add, "You seem to have mistaken me for the queen." 

"My identity is not your concern, Your Highness, and we're both aware that I've made no mistake." He reached out a giant hand toward her -- 

Then a bright red light split the air in front of her, barely missing that hand. The robed man stood back, then drew his saber -- but he wasn't looking at her. He looked up at the nearby mesa. 

Amidala became aware of another sound, a soft, horrible sound that she associated with hospitals and dying. The hiss-shush of a respirator. She looked up. Standing above her, dark cape blowing back in the wind, was the Imperial official she had seen earlier, the man with the death's head mask. Lights on his chest went up and down with each breath. 

__

Dear Maker, she realized. _It_ is_ a respirator. He's _wearing_ one._

She didn't have time to register much more, because he was flying down from the mesa, landing with great force between her and her attacker. "You must leave, Your Highness," he said. "Immediately. This does not concern you." 

"It seems to me," she said, "that it concerns me a great deal." 

"Amidala," he said, with slow, deliberate patience, "leave now. Follow this road until you come to Sanctuary." 

"I don't know Sanctuary, and I don't know you." But the second part felt like a lie. 

"You will come to know both. Walk away." 

The attacker laughed, a cold, knifelike sound in the dark. "If you have replaced me, my Master's standards have been lowered. If she is in your way, cut her down!" 

"I intend to kill neither of you, but you must both return to your own time." 

The voice that came into Amidala's mind was loud, intrusive, and commanding. _Go to Sanctuary. You must survive. All depends on it._

Before she had a chance to answer -- or even comprehend what had been said -- the Imperial official 

__

(vader but no not vader amidala please GO!!!) 

pressed an attack on the man who had tracked her in the desert several hours -- or thirty five years -- ago. 

Red sabers crossed, lighting up the desert night. Amidala backed away, not wanting to leave, but needing to avoid those deadly arcs. 

She felt a small, warm hand on her own, and looked down. 

A little girl, with a scar across her nose, was tugging at her. "Come on, he said to come to Sanctuary. He _said_." She put the emphasis on "said" in her voice, but in her eyes, the emphasis was on "he." Those dark eyes flickered momentarily to the duel, to Vader, then turned away in terror, then back in fascination. Finally, she shook it off. "Follow me. I'll get you safe."

------------------ 

Anakin woke up in a soft bed, a blanket wrapped around him. He could smell something delicious cooking nearby. He did not entertain the thought that he might be waking up from a dream. Never in his waking life had he been in such a comfortable place. 

He opened his eyes, and was disappointed. This wasn't some rich room from a holoproj program. It was cold and made of steel, and the droid that was doing the cooking was a single-purpose, half-brained drone (one of the reasons Anakin had liked working on Threepio was that the protocol droid -- just on account of what it was supposed to do -- had to be able to do a lot of things and think in lots of ways). He sighed, and pushed the blanket down. 

A door slid up, and a man in an olive green uniform came in. "Good evening, Master Skywalker," he said. "We're under orders to watch over you well. You've fallen into poor company. We barely had time to save you. Who knows where the rebel scum may have taken you, if they'd gotten you out of Mos Espa?" 

__

Rebel scum ... anger rose in Anakin's throat, until he was sure he had to sick it up. Luke was his son. And Leia... had she said what he'd thought she'd said? Was she his, too? 

"They're my friends," he said, having no desire to explain the situation to this man. 

Soft bed or no, there was something wrong with this place. 

"I note you share a name with the Jedi. He is, perhaps, your father?" 

Anakin didn't answer. He didn't recognize any of the insignia on the man's uniform, but he did notice that there wasn't much of it, and Anakin talked to enough pilots to know that the higher the rank, the more buttons and ribbons went along with it. This guy was probably not much more than a lieutenant. 

"If so, he doesn't deserve to have a son, not a man who would abandon you to the streets of Mos Espa, and only come to collect you when you got big enough to start to be useful." 

"Where are they?" 

"They have been placed under arrest. They'll be taken to Coruscant for trial." 

"Why are you being so nice to me? I was with them. You should put me where they are." 

"We are under orders to see that you come to no harm." 

"Why?" 

"I'm not at liberty to discuss it. Why not have some nice soup, and get some sleep?" 

Anakin narrowed his eyes. He didn't like it when people thought he was stupid. "I want to know where my s- my friends are. I want to see them." 

"It's not possible." 

"Let me talk to someone who can make it possible." 

"Someone will be coming soon enough." The officer went through the door, and it slid shut behind him. 

Anakin thought about threatening to run into a wall and break his nose, then blame the officer for doing it when whoever it was got there, but he thought of Padmé right 

then, about how reckless she thought he was, and he figured maybe she was right. 

For a second, he was gripped by a panic that _she_ was in a cell someplace, then he remembered that they'd been leaving in the first place because she'd slipped away. It was Luke and Leia and Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon who were locked up. And these people with their soup and soft beds better not be hurting them. 

What would _she_ do? he wondered. What would she do if she was in a nice room while her (our) children were locked up someplace, maybe getting hurt? 

Well, Padmé was with the queen, and she always spoke like she agreed with the queen. The queen was going to speak with someone to help her people. Patient and calm. Dignified. 

He'd never be able to do that. He was no good at waiting. But he'd have to. 

He looked around the room, trying to look casual, because he figured there'd be spy stuff in the walls. There were no free vent shafts -- the grates were actually cut into the wall, not removable. The door was locked. There was nothing to cut with. And the droid couldn't even talk, let alone be convinced to do something not exactly in its programming. 

He had to think of something. He had to get Luke and Leia and the Jedi out of here (the idea that he'd be rescuing Jedi might have been funny, if he didn't have to figure out how he was going to go about it). 

He set about looking for something he could use to break the lock.

------------------ 

A young Imperial ensign, Saryn Zoron, paced back and forth in the prison section. He had been ordered to make sure the Jedi didn't escape and was growing increasingly bored. 

__

The only reason the captain put me here is so if they do get out, I'll be killed first. 

Snickering at an earlier joke, Saryn realized he had the sudden urge to check that younger Jedi's cell. What had been his name? 

He couldn't remember. Whatever it was, it wouldn't be important if the prisoner had escaped somehow ... What's-His-Name was a Jedi, maybe he used some Jedi trick to zap himself away. He'd seen that in a holo once, as a kid. 

"Don't be stupid, he has to be in there." Saryn rolled his eyes disgusted at himself but he couldn't shake the feeling that the prisoner had escaped. 

After a half-hour of standing there, running through all the nursery rhymes he knew including 'Little Boy Jedi, come blow your Sax' and 'Little Ms. Yaddle, sat on her tuffet.' (What was a tuffet, anyway?)

Of course, one couldn't forget:  


Yoda's gimmer stick sat on wall,

'til Yoda's gimmer stick had a great fall.  
All of Yoda's knights and all of the Chancellor's men  
Were glad they couldn't put the gimmer stick back together again. 

Still, he couldn't put the feeling the Jedi had escaped out of his mind. _Well.. I suppose opening the door for a second wouldn't hurt._

Keying in the intricate door code, he saw the Jedi kneeling on the floor, meditating. Saryn breathed a sigh of relief and turned around, hoping he hadn't disturbed the Jedi. 

Before he could exit however, he was slammed on the head. Right before the blackness took over, Saryn saw the Jedi, (_Obi-Wan_, his mind supplied at last) leave, closing the door behind him.

------------------ 

Leia sat on the edge of the hard cot, glad that she'd been brought more comfortable clothes than the metal bikini before this happened. Hearing metal scraping on metal every time she shifted on the uncomfortable surface would have driven her mad by now. 

She wondered if all the cells were this small, or if this had been given to her especially because she disliked small spaces. There was room here for precisely three paces in each direction, and turning usually involved hitting her hip on something. She'd finally giving up, but her mind continued to move, back and forth, over and over. 

__

We should have told them everything before we went into town, they'd have been more careful, we'd have left sooner, they should have known Watto wasn't to be trusted... 

And so on. 

She heard a sound outside her cell door, a brief scratching, and she jumped to her feet, reaching instinctively for a blaster that had been taken away. She'd been out of the loop for six months and didn't have any vital information 

__

(The rendezvous point at Sullust...) 

that they would want, but that wouldn't stop them from pulling out the interrogator 'droid. Vader himself had used it sparingly and with distaste -- that had been bad enough, thank you -- but other Imperials were known to enjoy the devices a bit more than was good for them. 

A muttered curse on the other side of the door, then a scrambling sound at the lock-pad to the side. The door rose. A brown-robed figure ducked inside, then closed the door again, jamming the lock mechanism with a piece of tan cloth. 

Obi-Wan Kenobi turned to her. "Good to know it's one of us in here. There's a guard at the end of the hall. Hope you don't mind a moment's company before we get out of here." 

Leia shrugged. "Not at all." 

Kenobi gave her a grin, a rather dashing one, and she found herself returning it. She tried to call to mind the brief glimpse she'd caught of him as an old man, with white hair and a beard, falling beneath Vader's assault... 

His eyes widened. "I die like _that?_" 

She blinked. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to send that to you at all. I didn't realize you'd see it. That's the only time we met before. And we didn't exactly meet." 

"Hmm," he said, and said no more. 

He pressed his ear to the cell door, and closed his eyes. Leia could see his brow furrow in concentration. Then he moved decisively, opening door, and stepping out into the corridor. He signaled for Leia to follow him.

------------------ 

Vader flipped out of Maul's reach, and hooked his old saber onto his belt, drawing the new one in the same motion. It would not have been effective as a throwing weapon, but as a duelling weapon, it would outmatch Maul easily. 

The X-shape of the red beams lit the air in front of him, and he saw Maul ignite the other half of his double-bladed lightsaber. He attacked first. 

Maul met his offense with graceful fury, using his weapon in smooth, precise arcs that met the pulsed energy of the crossed beams and used it as a repulsor. Vader was forced back a step. 

"You always fought well," he said. "But your time is over, and has been for many years. You must return to your own era." 

Maul didn't answer. He twisted his saber in a cartwheel, catching the edge of Vader's blade and sending it down. The old apprentice used the opportunity to somersault over Vader's head, putting himself closer to Sanctuary, further down the road. "I am ordered to retrieve the queen. The era in which I find myself doing so is of no concern." 

Vader engaged him in a parry, trying to reverse their positions. "Whether or not your capture Amidala, your Master's vision will be fulfilled. She is incidental to him and to you." 

"Then why protect her now?" 

Vader tried to formulate an answer -- in fact, his protection of Amidala was as pointless as Maul's aggressive stance toward her. Whether or not Maul captured her, she would set Palpatine on the road to Empire. And whether or not Vader protected her now, she would die later. 

But not until after Luke was born. He could not allow the despair over her death to stop him from keeping her child alive. Luke was destined to be his apprentice, his heir. Luke had to exist. 

"The timeline," he finally said. "Consider it, Maul. Your Master has all he dreamed of in this time. All you both dreamed of. Will you risk it to change fate?" 

Maul looked at him with loathing. "I care nothing for this timeline, and if you are apprentice now, then clearly I am not here to enjoy my Master's success. Perhaps I will change that." 

He began another parry; Vader met it. 

The duel rang out in the night. 

------------------ 

Amidala let the girl lead her down the road, her eyes only drawn back to the brightly lit duel every ten steps or so. 

"Come _on_," the child said, tugging at her arm. "He said to come to Sanctuary." 

"Who is he?" 

"He is Lord Vader, and you should do what he says. He wants what is best." 

Amidala knew that the proper response was to reject it entirely; from what little she'd been able to glean about the current situation, she didn't think anyone in the Empire really wanted what was best. But she couldn't shake the sense that Vader, at least, wanted what he thought was best for everyone -- whether everyone liked it or not. 

"My name is Dritali," the girl said, becoming conversational as soon as Amidala started to walk again. "I live at Sanctuary. Lord Vader sent me here, after he killed my father." Amidala felt a chill at the casual way Dritali said it, but she let the girl go on. 

"He said that Kit would take care of me, if I just showed him this." 

Dritali held up her arm, and Amidala saw a bracelet that reached most of the way to her elbow. It was cheap and not at all elaborate, but she thought it was an oddly attractive piece of jewellry. 

Or at least that's what she'd thought when she'd seen it yesterday, on Shmi Skywalker's wrist. 

Dritali smiled. "Kit looked like that when he saw it too. He won't tell me why. Will you?" 

"I haven't the faintest idea," Amidala said thinly. She no longer felt the urge to look back at the fight. "Let's move on to Sanctuary. I think I need to talk to Kit."

------------------ 

Anakin had gotten tired of trying to break his lock subtly. So, he had just broken the kitchen droid and started smashing the door open. Five minutes later, he was done. 

__

I should have done this in the beginning. Much easier! 

After exiting the nice prison cell (And if that wasn't at opposites, he wasn't sure what was), he starting running. He never got why people on holodramas and stuff would just walk when they were escaping. That just made it much easier for them to get caught. Maybe that was the point. 

Slowing down as he passed a corner, he saw a small room with a partially closed door. Peering in, he saw a gnarled old human holo talking to that captain. 

The captain was kneeling and kept his eyes on the ground, something that Anakin knew meant the old guy was important. Whenever Watto was especially mad when he wrecked a pod or something, he just keep his eyes on the ground and called him Master. Worked every time. 

Straining his eyes, he overheard Old Man saying, "I will be on Tatooine soon... Two days at the most. Just break in the prisoners. No food and no sleep should work for now." 

"Of course, my Emperor. And young Skywalker?" 

Emperor? Luke and his friends are in it bad if there's an Emporer after them ... . 

With a small flinch the boy realized, _And now I'm in it too!_

Walking away, he resolved to find the Jedi and friends if he had to look through the whole compound.

------------------ 

Obi-Wan left the room, feeling a little depressed. _I die struck down, not willing to fight ... how fun for me._

After a few more minutes on this train of thought, he found a hand waving in front of his face. Catching it didn't require Jedi reflexes but holding in his blush when he figured out it was Leia's did. 

Leia spoke calmly, a trait of a diplomat. "What about Qui-Gon and Luke?" 

Obi-Wan could have told she really was concerned about Luke without the Force. Her voice tensed a little and her hands clenched. Irrelevant, but he had gotten good at noticing little things after Qui-Gon's focus on the Living Force. 

"They have better locks then you." Obi-Wan gave a quick sardonic grin and turned out of the hallway. 

"Should I be happy or insulted that I got a bad lock?" Obi-Wan glanced at her expression and had to put on his stoic-Jedi face to keep from laughing. 

"If I were you, I'd be happy." As an afterthought he added, , she could imagine very well."Besides ... people are always paranoid about what Jedi can do. Some holodrama I had to watch in the Jedi temple had Jedi teleporting and fighting entire armies without even trying to get peace! Can you imagine?" 

From the blush on Leia's face, she had believed the movie's portrayal of Jedi too. _When I get back, I'll ask Master Yoda what he can do about Jedi PR._

"So, instead of getting to break them out the easy way, we need to find a computer accessable to the keycodes so we can break them out that way." Obi-Wan paused and took a quick glance to make sure the corrider was empty. 

"It'd be easier to just find the code to open all prisoner doors at once, Obi-Wan." The statement was punctuated with a stare one expected from a Gamorean wrestler, not 

a petite young woman from Alderaan. 

"Or we could do that."

------------------ 

Anakin slipped out of his room (he tried to think of it as a cell, but found that he couldn't), makeshift club in hand, and out into the clean corridors of the ship. 

For a ship, it most definitely was. Grounded at present, but vaguely aerodynamic. It looked like it could get places, and Anakin was vaguely curious about how it would be put together... but not as curious as he ought to be. Something told him that nothing about this ship would surprise him a lot. Things would be where he expected them to be. 

He was right. 

Down a staircase, into a hexagonal hallway. This would be 

__

(the detention area) 

where the prisoners would end up. Sure. Not anywhere close to the bridge -- which would be up several levels, if they were smart -- but not close enough to the bowels of the ship for an escaped prisoner to easily cause damage. 

__

That's where I'd put it, if I were putting a prison on a ship. 

The thought came quietly, with no fanfare, and Anakin accepted it without any sense of portent or premonition. It was a sense of mild discomfort that he might agree with the engineers who built this, but that was all. 

Yet the odd little thought _did_ linger, along with the more troubling question of why they'd put him in a nice room and tried to "save" him from his children and the Rebels, instead of just tossing him in a cell, too. Leia had talked a lot about the Empire when they were working together, and he didn't think they were the sort of people to just feel bad for the poor little kid. 

The prison wing had one main corridor, and a second, smaller one that was perpendicular to it. There would be another corridor, parallel to the main one. Anakin didn't know how he knew this, but he did. 

A guard appeared out of the smaller corridor, and Anakin barely had time to duck back into the place he'd come from. 

Cautiously, he looked around the edge of the hall. The guard looked over his shoulder at the short corridor, as if he'd heard something, then shrugged and continued his route. He stopped by one door, kicked it, and said, "Comfortable, Jedi?" Whoever was behind the door didn't answer, and the guard, smiling now, did the same to another cell door across the hall. Also no answer. But Anakin had observed, and counted the doors, and noted which ones the guard had stopped at. He ducked back around the corner, and closed his eyes to call the image back up. Two on the left, three on the right... 

"What are you doing here?" 

He opened his eyes. The guard was glaring at him, weapon drawn. "Just looking around," he tried. 

"You're not supposed to be down here. They said you might try. Go back to your room." 

Anakin hadn't read a lot of stories -- who had time, with all the work to do? -- but he'd devoured every story about Jedi that he could find. And he knew from Watto that they really did try mind tricks from time to time. "I'll go back to my room," he said reasonably, and even started to turn. Then he called out mutely into... was it really the Force?... and pushed his mind out heavily at the guard. "And you will return to the bridge, Lieutenant." 

The reaction was startling. Anakin had hoped that maybe it would work a little bit. He'd been prepared to be laughed at. But the guard staggered back, holding his head as if dizzy. Then he straightened up, a dreamy, distant look on his face, and he said, "Yes, m'lord" and walked away. 

Anakin watched after him in gape-mouthed silence, and vowed to _never_ use that trick again. It made him feel like he needed to wash his hands for about an hour, like he'd jumped in refuse and would stink of it for days. 

Nevertheless, for now, it had worked. He took his club, and went toward the door on his left.

------------------ 

"What do you mean the Jedi are gone?" The Queen's voice was tightly controlled but a hint of anger had leaked through. 

Lando shrugged and took a small look around the town's entrance. It was late now, late enough he would have to guess that it was almost dawn. "I meant what I said, Amidala." 

He had never been one for formality, except when it suited him. Or when he was flirting. Besides, a fourteen-year-old who wore face-paint **really** wasn't his type. 

Threepio sputtered out a nervous apology. "Ohh, Captain Calrissian doesn't mean anything by it. He's not a rude person, I promise," He paused, "please don't have me sent to the droid piles, your Majesty! Send Artoo!" 

Chewie growled out a threat about what he did to droids who talked too much and Threepio shut up, scared straight. 

Lando let out a chuckle as he saw proof that unreasonable fear wasn't just a Threepio trait. Several of the Naboo guards and that Gungan court jester were walking as far away from the Wookie as they could. 

Yeah, Chewie's really going to just decide he doesn't like someone's hair color and rip 

off their arms. Makes perfect sense. 

Amidala was tapping her foot, he realized. She obviously expected him to say something. "Um ... hey, let's go find those Jedi, huh?" 

The young Queen's eyebrows crinkled, but she motioned to her troops. "Spilt up into group of two or three. If you find anyone, you will take them back to the ship. We shall reconvene back at the ship in twelve hours, that should be more then enough time." 

Lando started towards Chewie but the child-Queen grabbed his arm. "You, Captain, are coming with me." 

Before he could even protest, he found himself being dragged off by the Queen. 

Aggressive. Really, it's too bad she's not older.

------------------ 

Qui-Gon felt a surge of anger and annoyance flood the Force like a tidal wave, followed by intense self-loathing. 

__

It's my father, Luke said to his mind. 

__

Ani? 

A chuckle, not at all in good humor. _Ani. Yes. It's him._

There was no time to discuss the matter further. Metal clanged on metal at Qui-Gon's cell door, and the anger came back ... but it was a cleaner anger, maybe even an anger that Anakin wasn't aware of. Still not good, but at least not being consciously drawn upon. 

The lock popped, and the door slid up. Ani smiled, purely relieved, and ran to him. "Qui-Gon! Sir, are you all right?" 

Qui-Gon embraced him, and smoothed the mop of blonde hair that fit surprisingly neatly at the base of his own chin. "I'm all right, Anakin. You have lost your temper." 

Anakin pulled away and looked down. "I have to get Luke out. And Obi-Wan." He was out of Qui-Gon's arms and across the hall before Qui-Gon could answer him, so he just followed. 

Ani took his metal club -- which Qui-Gon recognized as some part of a droid, and smashed it against the locking mechanism. 

"Ani," he said. "Someone will hear." 

Anakin looked back guiltily. "I think maybe they won't come right away." 

The door rose, and Luke was sitting there in a morose parody of meditation -- Qui-Gon was more generous than most masters, otherwise he might have considered it a pout. The elder/younger Skywalker (or was Luke the younger/elder?) simply looked at his father with resigned love -- and perhaps a bit of anger -- then stood and came into the corridor. 

"Ani," Qui-Gon said, "I am glad to be free, but you mustn't use your anger like that." 

Anakin simply gave him a puzzled frown. "I'm not angry." 

Qui-Gon gingerly took the club away from him, then knelt down as he'd seen Shmi do earlier. It was a gesture that he thought Anakin would understand. "You have bludgeoned these doors open, and I imagine you did the same in your own cell -- " 

Anakin flushed hotly at the word "cell," and averted his eyes. 

Qui-Gon got that strange sense of shame and self-loathing again, but didn't let it distract him. He didn't sense that the boy had been hurt, and whatever reasons this future Empire had for its treatment of him were, in all likelihood, in his future, not his present. He glanced up at Luke, who was looking in any direction except Anakin's. 

Interesting. 

But the present was Qui-Gon's concern, and at present, he had a frightened nine-year-old boy with a lot of power inside him, who had used it in a way that felt personally wrong to him. "Ani," he said again. 

Anakin's eyes found their way back to him. 

"Anakin, you cannot just bludgeon your way in and out of situations -- " 

"But it worked!" 

"It always does," Luke said dryly. "And we don't have time to discuss philosophy." 

"I couldn't agree more," Obi-Wan said, appearing from the short corridor. Qui-Gon had to suppress a grin; generally, Obi-Wan was willing to discuss philosophy at the point of gun, while Qui-Gon had to urge him out of it. "There are guards everywhere." 

Leia was beside him. Anakin looked up at her hopefully, and was rewarded with a smile. Qui-Gon could almost feel the way the Force calmed around the boy at the sight of it. "Obi-Wan is right," she said. "It's time to get out of here." 

"We'll need our weapons," Qui-Gon reminded her. "They should not remain in this time."

------------------ 

Maul finally made the mistake Vader had been waiting for. He counted on his finesse against the brute force of the four-blader, and it didn't work. Vader hadn't had to handle finessed saber-work for some time (he was, honestly, tiring), but this was the break he needed. 

Maul tried to swing a quick double arc, feigning advance while executing a brief strategic retreat. The blades of the lightsaber dipped into a slight angle, just the one Vader could use to capture in the gaps of the x-shape of his own weapon. He twisted with all his strength, and Maul's weapon went flying into the darkness, creating a pinwheel of flaring red. Vader used the Force to call it to himself, and deactivated it. He advanced on his enemy, wondering in some far corner of his mind how exactly to end this fight without damaging the timeline irreparably. He couldn't kill Maul, and he had no idea how to simply send him back in time. 

__

Kill him. Change the time line. One last murder to pay for all of them, and erase at least some of them. 

The conundrum was too much. It made his head ache dully. If he killed him, and it changed everything, then he wouldn't be here to kill him and change everything. 

__

So, you blow yourself out of existence. Is that really so bad? I mean, really?_ Amidala was before everything went bad. The children will still be here..._

Vader cut off the unproductive line of thought. He'd only taken two threatening steps toward Maul. "Retreat," he said. "Return to your own time." 

"I go where I please!" Maul spat. In a flash of speed unbelievable after a duel, he practically flew into the desert. 

Vader debated following him, but realized that he still didn't know what to do if he caught this particular quarry. He supposed he should consult with Palpatine, but couldn't bring himself to do it. He assumed Palpatine's response would be to let the two of them fight it out, and see who was left standing. It was the Sith way. 

Meanwhile, one thing was clear -- Maul knew where _his_ quarry was, and what he intended to do with her. And Vader would not allow that to happen. He didn't bother making up an excuse about the timeline, or Luke. 

He'd seen her again. He would not allow her to be harmed. Whatever it meant and whatever had happened, he discovered two things. The first was that he still loved her, and the second was that he didn't mind discovering that at all. It didn't even call to mind his weak former self (in fact, where Amidala was concerned, there _was_ no former self, just the continuous sense of perfect symbiosis that had never left him). It was a simple constant, an instinct, and if he'd learned one thing that carried over between Jedi and Sith it was to trust one's instincts. 

He sheathed his weapon, and headed for Sanctuary. 

------------------ 

Amidala followed Dritali into the low-slung building. It was nestled into a valley protected by the mountains, and it bore the marks of once having been a fairly gracious underground palace. It was sparsely furnished now, but densely populated. Some of the children were her own age; most were younger. 

A hand rested on her arm suddenly, and she turned to see a middle-aged man, with black hair and dark eyes, his face worn with weather and care. He looked like he was seeing a ghost. 

Well, maybe he was. 

"Amidala..." he whispered. 

She nodded, not bothering to call herself Padmé. Kitster had obviously found out the truth somewhere along the line. "Hello," she said simply. "I'm a bit lost." 

Then Kit's arms wrapped around her, and she felt herself held tight. It was the embrace of a brother, a friend, but it was full of years of experience that she hadn't had yet. It felt good. "I don't understand it," he said. "But you've been missed." 

A thousand questions were on Amidala's lips. Why had she separated her children? Why didn't they know of each other's existence? Was she dead? What was this Empire? Where was Ani? That last somehow seemed the most important... but suddenly she didn't want to ask it. She wanted to ask anything else. She didn't want to know any of these answers. 

Kit broke the embrace, and studied her face. "How long ago?" he asked. "You look just as you did in Mos Espa ..." 

"That's where I came from. I saw you just this morning at the race." 

"How much do you want to know?" 

"You'd tell me, just like that?" 

Kit looked around the crowded room. "These are the children of a war, Amidala. A war that's been going on for twenty years. I have little interest in protecting the timeline that led to it. But I will respect your wishes in the matter." 

Amidala nodded. "Thank you. I need to consider it. I've met... my son... " She thought of Luke's face, and Leia's smile. There was _something_ in this timeline that she wanted to protect. She was suddenly very tired. "I need time to think, and rest." 

"Of course. I have private rooms. You may use them if you like." 

"Thank you." 

He led her to a quiet study, and she laid down on a simple couch. _What do I need to know? What do I need to _not_ know?_

Her mind began its slow circling again, this time in earnest, and she didn't notice that she'd fallen asleep until she was awakened by the sound of soft, steady breathing. She felt a sense of complete, unquestioning protection, and pure and unsullied love. She'd felt a glimmering of it yesterday, but many years had passed since then, and it was stronger now. 

She didn't open her eyes, though she felt tears welling up under the lids as she whispered, "Hello, Ani."


	4. Chapter 4

As far as a disclaimer, you know the drill.

------------------ 

Sabè stood outside some building, waiting for Lando to come out. He had told her while stuttering, that he doubted they were in there but she insisted they look. Lando had relented but had made her stay outside. 

Spotting him, she waved him over. "Were they in there?" 

"Unless Padmé or Leia have a part-time job we really don't want to know about, no." 

Trying to puzzle it out, she blushed when she finally did. Sabè knew she was extremely naive for sixteen at certain things, it came from being raised by a militant father. She loved her father very much but it had been a huge relief to leave home to work for Amidala. 

"So do you think they're even in town?" Lando's question was lazy, he probably didn't expect an answer. 

"Where else would they...be." Sabé trailed off as she saw the armored men in white look straight at her. "Run!" 

To his credit, he didn't argue. He just ran as she did, cursing the outfit that slowed her so much. Entering an alley, they lay in wait until the men in white passed. "What were those things?" 

Lando's voice was a little grim. "Those were stormtroopers. Still feel confident the others could handle them?" 

"They're just big men with guns. That's all." Sabé nodded and clasped her hands when she noticed they were shaking a little. 

"Big men with guns in troops of twelve against a kid, a handmaiden, a princess, three Jedi and a partridge in a pear tree. If they got taken by surprise...." Lando stopped that rain of thought and abruptly smiled. "But, hey, let's keep looking." 

Sabé ignored her growing fear and led the way out, as queenly as Amidala ever was. Almost.

------------------ 

Vader stood quietly over his wife -- but it was so many years until she would be his wife, and had been so many years since! -- not knowing what to say to her. Her eyes had not opened, but she had spoken his name. His former name. The name that brought up all the unreasoning rage in his mind. 

Except when she spoke it. 

When she spoke it, he simply accepted it as his own, the way he might accept an old glove that didn't quite fit right anymore. "I have been called Vader for many years," he said. 

"By me?" 

"No. Never by you." 

Her eyes opened. The tears welled out of them and spilled down her cheeks. "I want to ask what happened. I want to ask it, but I can't." 

"It is well that you do not. You have some happiness in your future. I am sorry that this will cloud it." 

She sat up, gazing coolly at him. "What are your intentions here?" Her eyes were neither frightened nor disgusted. All he saw was the icy appraisal of the queen of Naboo. 

He stood forward into the light to submit to it. "Amidala, I have no ill intentions toward you. I merely wanted to see you. It has been... many years for me. I had not intended to wake you at all, only to stay and guard you from a second attack. I will not harm you." 

Her eyes narrowed, but softened. "I believe you." She did, Vader could feel that she did in the soft aura of the Force that surrounded her. But he could also feel a high sense of nervousness, a fluttering heartbeat, a ghost-word floating through her consciouness... she was afraid of him in some way that did not appeal to him at all. 

It came to him in a flash, though the fear was not fully formed in her own mind. The word that was haunting her was "husband." Vader stepped away, to give her more space. "Amidala, I desire the woman you will become. For the child you are, I have... remembered affection of friendship. You have no reason to fear... " For a moment, he was at a loss for words. He concluded simply with, "I will not touch you in that manner." 

He felt the relief come from her, but also a certain self-conscious embarrassment. Vader remembered it well. She gave him a shaky smile. "Thank you, Ani. I will remember in a few years that such a statement... stings a bit." 

"No, you won't." 

Astonishingly, she laughed. Then she burst into tears. 

Vader stood watching her, not having the first idea what to do. 

------------------ 

Amidala got the crying fit under control. It wasn't like her, but then this was all too much. She tried to recapture the thought that it was all a dream, tried to weave any fantasy that would make this go away, but they all hit the solid, unyielding surface of the man who stood in the shadows. 

Her husband-who-would-be-and-once-was. This monster, this beast in a death's head mask. 

Ani. 

The tears threatened again. How could she go back? How could she marry him? How could her children be born? This man... she had heard whispers of him in Mos Espa, and her captor had spoken of him as though they had the same master. How could she hold him in anything but contempt? 

And yet she didn't feel that. She felt only a deep connection to him, deeper even than their shared children. She didn't want to feel it, but it was there. She heard their years together in his speech -- it was her own practiced, formal throne room speech. She saw the protective stance he took at the door. She understood that he'd spoken the simple truth when he'd said that he merely wanted to see her. She'd felt his love for her... and she felt her own potential to return it. 

Even like this. 

__

Maker help me. 

"Amidala, I know this is difficult to understand... " 

"How can I stop it?" 

The sentence came out flatly, coldly, not at all the tone she meant, but Ani didn't react badly to it. He simply fell to his knees before her, and took her hands. 

"Amidala," he said, "you cannot." 

"You can't want this..." 

"That isn't what I mean. This is not your responsibility. It is not your fault. It is not something you can fix." 

"Is it something you could fix?" 

He drew away abruptly, and stood. His voice became as cold as hers had been. "Do not make assumptions about what I want and what I do not want." 

"It's too late for that, Anakin Skywalker. You already told me what you want, through your own actions. Now tell me how to help you get it." 

He stood in the doorway for a moment, then simply repeated, "There is nothing you can do." He turned around. "This conversation is at an end. You will remain here until a way is discovered to return you to your own time. I have... " His voice broke for a moment, and she listened to the sound of the respirator. It was nearly a whisper when he spoke again, oddly stiff and formal. "I have enjoyed speaking with you, my love," he said, and disappeared into Sanctuary.

------------------ 

Vertash had twisted his ankle jumping off a couch -- it had been a spirited game of Tusken and Farmer, and Vertash, as always, had chosen to be a Tusken Raider -- and Kit was wrapping a supporting bandage around it when Anakin (or Vader, whatever he was calling himself these days; Kit wasn't picky) came out of the back room. He'd returned to Sanctuary not long after Amidala had gotten there, and asked politely enough if he might see her. Kit had told him she was sleeping; he had promised not to wake her. Somehow, Kit doubted that the promise had been kept. 

Vertash wiggled his foot and cleared his throat, and Kit realized that he'd stopped rolling out the bandage. He finished it up. "Good as new," he said absently. 

Vertash slipped down off the table, sought out Kerea (who was too upset by An- Vader's presence to join the games), and promptly tried to engage her in a card game of some kind. Kit had time to see her smile before he felt Vader standing behind him. Strange, how the pneumatics had become so constant that he almost didn't hear them. "What are your plans?" he asked. 

"I must return her to her own time," Vader said. "Until then, she will remain here. I will watch over her and see to it that Maul brings no harm to her or to your home." 

Kit wasn't sure how to bring up the next subject, so he dove straight in. "Your presence is disturbing some of the children." 

Vader looked at him blankly -- of course it was blank, it was the damned mask, except that Kit thought the look underneath might be the same; blank puzzlement: _And what do you want me to do about that? I have other priorities..._

"I'm sorry, Anakin," he said, "but it's true. You are welcome to be here, but I can't say that I hope for a long visit. And I must ask you to..." 

"I will remain discreet," Vader said. 

Kit noticed that he had not been corrected on the name, but chose not to point that out. "I appreciate it." 

A small hand touched Kit's, and there was no great surprise in seeing that it was Dritali's. She was looking up at Vader, her neck craned and her eyes directed nearly toward the ceiling -- she looked like a tourist getting the first glance of a skyscraper on Coruscant. "May I talk to you, Lord Vader?" she asked quietly. 

"No," Anakin said, "you may not." 

He turned, and went out toward the gardens. 

Dritali bit her lip, and Kit was engaged in trying to cheer her up when the door to the back rooms opened again. He didn't see it. 

------------------ 

Vader stalked through the gardens. Mainly rock gardens at this level, decorative stones, chosen for color and shape. Some such gardens could be lovely. He had seen one on the world of Reshtal which glowing obsidian and deep aquamarine... this one was a Tatooine garden. Sandstone and more sandstone, with varying degrees of red and brown. Some stones were flecked with mica. Most were just oddly shaped. It was a poor garden, shaped by children. Much like the one Kit had kept in Mos Espa, many years ago.   


Vader leaned down, saw a smooth shape that looked like a pointing hand. He had found that in the desert during a trading expedition with the jawas that Watto had sent him on. Kit had kept it. The galaxy was full of many strange puzzlements. 

He reached out, found Maul easily -- he was running in the desert. Not far from... other figures. Who...? 

He concentrated more deeply. Rabé. Eirtaé. Names that he had neither spoken nor thought in many years. But they had been... 

__

...sent out in this forsaken desert, while her Highness puts herself in grave danger and... 

__

...it really is beautiful in its own way and I wish I was home on Naboo and... 

__

...this'm berry bad, wesa got no nothing out here in the desert, if someone's deciding to crunch us... 

Sabé had split up the remaining group. Interesting strategy. It would foil the stormtroopers for a little while, if they had to search for several small groups. Oddly, Vader felt no inclination at all to send word to the military about this knowledge. 

He heard a light footstep, crunching on the gravel path, and thought it was the girl Dritali again. He did not wish to be seen attached to a clinging child (though he was in an honest enough mood to admit that it was gratifying to be important to her). He spoke as he began to turn. "I was quite serious about not wishing to speak to you." 

"I didn't believe you," Amidala said. "I still don't." 

"Go back inside, Amidala." 

She shook her head, took a few more tentative steps toward him. "I can't do that, Ani. I can't walk away from you." Then, in a quick motion, she covered the rest of the distance between them. Her arms wrapped around his waist. Her cheek pressed against the machinery of his chest. 

For a moment, he was too bewildered to even comprehend what she had done. He brought his hands to her shoulders, meaning vaguely to push her away, but instead, he simply stroked her hair. It was not... in any way improper. She simply... needed comfort. It was the sort of comfort she had offered him on the ship as it left Tatooine, when he was cold. Of course, for her, that hadn't happened yet. The odd thought came into his mind that he was teaching her to comfort him... if that would happen now. He doubted it would. She would be crazy to retain any fondness for him, knowing what would happen. "You must leave me," he said, finally remembering to separate himself from her. 

"Why? Are you planning to do something you don't want me to see?" 

"No. But you do not belong here." 

"I've met our son, Ani. I want... " She shook her head and bit her lip. "I want you to tell me that we were happy. That we... " 

"We were happy," he said curtly. He thought of Luke again, Luke falling into the windswept core of Cloud City, his mutilated arm waving obscenely up. If she had met him, then he was still close. He was... 

...in prison. Or at least on board the ship. I... he/I... younger... Ani had gotten him out of the cell. Vader searched for a scrap of memory of having done this, but found nothing. He had simply read his own mind. A strange, twisted feeling. 

"Amidala, I must go into town. Remain here." 

"No." 

"Luke has been captured. I can have him released, along with the others. I will deal with them at a later point, but I cannot allow the timeline to be polluted by their capture at this juncture." 

"I'm going with you." 

"Amidala -- " 

"This is not open for debate. If you're going, I am going. Whatever you plan to do, you can do it with me watching." 

He didn't have time to argue the point with her. He turned. If she was going to follow, she'd just have to keep up.

------------------ 

Amidala was beginning to get a stitch in her side from running, but she did not let Anakin out of her sight, and he did not slow his pace to accomodate her. He was as stubborn as an adult as he was as a child, at any rate. But that was all right. Amidala was stubborn, too. 

She ignored the pain in her side and quickened her pace, her toes catching the faint edges of his moonlit shadow. She had a mad urge to step on it, to catch it like a cape and hold him still. 

There was such a frenetic energy in him, in the way he walked, the way he'd been prowling the garden... but she _had_ held him still, just for a moment. Granted, it had been the stillness of perfect shock, but it had been _some_ kind of stillness, at least. 

__

And why did you do that? 

Oh, but that was the question, wasn't it? 

She had not intended to embrace this monster that Ani had become. He frightened her, and contemplating the things he might be capable of doing made her stomach turn. In that brief moment of touching him, she'd felt -- almost seen -- that he had done things beyond her worst imaginings. Yet, she had not let go. She had needed to know what it felt like to hold him, to be held by him. She'd needed to know what it meant that he loved her. She'd needed to know that the children they would create came from what was good and true in both of them. 

And she had felt it. 

When she'd first seen him there in the garden, bending stiffly to examine a red rock, the thought had come to her cleanly and firmly: _I will stop this. I will not allow this to happen to him._ Thoughts of what had happened to the rest of the galaxy were distant and unreal. It was Anakin Skywalker that she wanted to save. And, unfortunately, the only way to accomplish that end was to directly defy what he had become, to draw on a relationship she didn't yet understand in order to move him away from... all this. 

He stopped abruptly in the fringes of Mos Espa, and held up one hand for her to stop as well. She ignored it until she was beside him. "What?" 

He turned his head. She wished he wouldn't look at her; the mask was disconcerting. "The Emperor is coming," he said. "It is better for you not to see him." 

"Better for which of us?" 

He didn't answer. He simply stared at her for a moment more, then went into town. She followed him through twisting streets, past the spaceport, and into an open area, where a large gray ship had docked. He strode toward it without hesitation. She followed, close enough for the wind to billow his cape against her face. 

A cluster of guards waited at the base of the gangplank, and they bowed to him. "Lord Vader, this is unexpected -- " 

He started in without acknowledging them. Amidala started to follow, but was met by the noses of several blasters. Anakin stopped at the top of the gangplank, and stood quietly. After a moment, he simply said, "She is with me." 

The guards immediately parted, and Amidala followed Vader into the ship. 

The commander -- at least Amidala assumed it by his position on the bridge -- immediately stood at attention. "Lord Vader." 

"It is my understanding that several Rebels have been taken prisoner." 

"Yes, my Lord." 

"Release them immediately. They unknowingly occupy a strategic position in current operations." 

The commander looked at his feet. "I apologize, Lord Vader, but I cannot comply." 

Anakin raised his hand, and the officer began to grasp at his throat. Amidala gasped. 

The black mask turned toward her again, then the hand lowered and the officer drew in a sharp breath. "I'm sorry, Lord Vader." 

"Why do you defy me?" 

"The orders to detain them come from the Emperor himself. I cannot disobey."

------------------ 

Anakin stopped. His blood was suddenly cold and fiery at the same time, and his head was pounding. Across from him, Luke was staring at the arch that led into the corridor. 

Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon had used mind tricks to get them into the storage room where their weapons were kept, and they'd just finished getting them (Anakin had kept his broken piece of droid) when the air changed. Luke seemed to notice it most, though Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon looked up as well, and Anakin thought Leia got a little bit pale. 

But it was his own reaction that scared him, big time. He felt like all his bones were shattered and the bits were jiggling around in his muscles. He felt like diving for cover. And he felt like covering his face and crying in shame. "What's happening?" he managed to whisper. 

Luke picked him up with no preliminaries shifted him to his back to be carried -- Anakin couldn't remember the last time he'd been carried anywhere -- and said, "We're getting off this ship, now." 

No one offered any arguments. Leia led the way, saying briefly that she knew the ship's class. 

They wound down through corridors into a cargo bay, which looked to Anakin like a dead end -- all his earlier clarity about the ship seemed to have disappeared. Leia lifted a panel in the wall, and a huge section of the hull slid sideways. An alarm sounded somewhere above. 

"Run!" Qui-Gon yelled. 

The four adults spilled out through the newly opened hatch, and Anakin could hear Luke's labored breathing. "I'm slowing you down!" he said. "Drop me!" 

"I carried Yoda ten kilometers a day. I can -- " he gasped a breath " -- carry you two or three." 

"I can run." 

"I don't have time to find out." 

They were up and over a dune, headed out into the desert. 

Leia stopped and looked at Luke. "Where now? Can we make it to the _Falcon_?" 

"Maybe. I don't know. This isn't my city." 

"It's mine," Anakin said. 

Luke nodded, and finally let go of him. He slid to the sand. It was a good thing Luke hadn't dropped him to run -- his legs were numb from being held, and he just crumpled down to his knees. 

With an effort, he stood up, and started walking the blood back into his legs. "We went the other direction from where the queen's ship is. It's a long way now, and we'd have to go back through them." 

"I think perhaps we should find a different solution," Qui-Gon said. He put his hands on Anakin's shoulders, and that felt good and solid. The panic that had started in the ship began to abate. 

"There's a cave out there, where the jawas sometimes camp. I can get us there." 

Leia was already nodding, but Luke said, "No. I think your hideouts aren't the best places to be. We should find someplace new. Someplace you haven't been before." 

Anakin nodded and looked at his feet. In the calmness Qui-Gon had cast over him, pieces were beginning, slowly, to float together. "Are you going to tell me why?" he asked quietly. 

Luke started to speak, then shut his mouth and shook his head. 

Qui-Gon knelt down beside him. "Ani," he said, "whatever is happening here, you do not have the blame for it right now. Don't cast your eyes down. But Luke is, perhaps, right to seek out new shelter." 

Anakin nodded. "Well," he said, "I'll let you guys lead, then. Does anyone know the desert?" 

"I know the desert," Luke said. "Let's go." 

------------------ 

Qui-Gon kept his hand on Ani's shoulder, partly to keep the boy calm and keep his mind from putting the whole picture together, partly to steady himself. He'd felt the new presence come on board the ship, and it was unmistakable. Anakin Skywalker wrote a unique signature on the Force, and it had broken into the world of the Imperial ship with a vengeance. It was shot through with hate and anger and fear, but its essentially self-ness was still there. 

The Chosen One had turned. Was this the Balance of the Force, then? This awful destruction and oppression? 

No. Qui-Gon refused to believe that. Balance meant something different. Something that was about renewal and kindness. He'd seen that as clearly as he saw the stars in the night sky above him. He'd seen it in Anakin's future, and in Shmi's eyes. The balance was the return of compassion for the individual in a galaxy that had lost sight of it... 

But the Chosen One had turned. 

Could a Sith even _know_ compassion, let alone bring it to the Force? 

He had an urge to steal Ani away, to raise him in this timeline and therefore steal away what he had become, but he knew he couldn't do that. _And don't you mean "train," not "raise"? The boy is not your son._

Ani's small hand reached up and touched his, and he smiled. Obi-Wan, walking to their left, gave a look of semi-guarded jealousy. 

Luke turned to the east, and followed a small gravel path into the foothills of the distant mountains.

------------------ 

Lando brushed a hand through his hair, growing a little nervous but determined not to show it. The last thing he needed was a panicked Queen. 

Besides... This was Mos Espa and fear wouldn't ever be great to show in a place like this. You could never tell who could be paying attention and with a young, pretty girl walking with him.... 

He might have taken risks by himself but even he had limits. Unlike Jabba, (And Lando couldn't hold in the shudder that came with the name) Lando had respect for other's lives. 

"What's the matter, Captain?" The regard in Sabé's voice seemed true enough, if a little odd. 

"Nothing..." Lando threw a quick smile at the teen before changing the subject. "I was on an undercover mission right before this. With a Hutt. Have you ever seen a Hutt?" 

Sabé raised an eyebrow. "How could a Hutt go undercover?" 

The phrase gave him a a rather silly mental image of Jabba trying to sneak around in a cloak and a wig. It might have been the panic rising up but he chuckled a little. 

"Actually, the Princess and I were trying to save Han. I owed him a debt and it was my turn to pay up," Lando shifted uncomfortably. "I was really looking forward to getting off this planet. The last couple months have given me enough Outer Rim for a lifetime." 

"I can imagine how one could tire of this planet ... there!" The last statement was punctured with a point towards a pair of stormtroopers. The two tried to make themselves inconspicuous until Sabè sighed in annoyance. 

"This isn't getting us anywhere. If they were smart, they would have left Mos Espa long ago. We might as well be looking for them in the desert!" 

Lando blinked, slowly. What was the one place he had heard most about Tatooine? Sith, the one place everyone in the rebellion had! Beggar's Canyon! Ever better, if he remembered the basic geography he had meomerized before becoming Jabba's guard, it was about an hour east. 

The dark-skinned Captain grinned in anticipation. The Imps would never know to look there. Who else but the Rebels had a farmboy-turned-Jedi known for comparing shooting down the Death Star to womprat hunting? 

"Come on Sabé. I know where they'll be headed." 

He walked away, heading out to the desert with Sabé jogging along next to him. "You know that I didn't mean for us to look in the desert." 

__

Which seems like a pretty good reason towards why this will be fun. 

Instead he said simply, "Yeah." 

An hour came quickly with the Queen making smart remarks and Lando laughing at her. Soon enough, they reached Beggar's Canyon and saw the group standing around. 

Obi-Wan and Luke were sparing, wow, Obi-Wan was good. _But when will those jumps ever come in handy? If he falls off a roof?_

Leia was watching the spar. She looked like she wanted to get her mind off of something. 

Qui-Gon was lecturing Anakin about anger and hasty decisions. Well, if the kid was anything like Luke, it was time well spent. Only problem was, Anakin looked like his mind was elsewhere. 

Well, that wasn't that unusual, when he was a kid he'd never paid attention to lectures either. The thought was interuppted when Anakin stole a look at him and waved. "Captain Calrissian?" 

Lando repressed a shudder when he heard the title. Which was odd, he hadn't done that since Cloud City ... __with Vader.

------------------ 

Rabé blew out her breath, she was just beyond excited now. The fifteen-year-old had kept a sheltered life before she had been chosen by the Queen to be a handmaiden. Still, even that ended up with her stuck in a palace all day with tending to the Queen or practicing her fighting skills. 

When she had discovered she was on a planet controlled by Hutts, instead of acting like anyone with sanity and being scared, she had felt overjoyed. _That was mistake number one._

Mistake number two had come from not listening to her inner voice. She had just known something was going to happen but she hadn't wanted to look the fool and say it. Like she didn't look any stupider now, walking around town with a Gungan who wouldn't stop babbling about how they were all going to die?  


"Mesa thinkin' wesa in twoble!" Jar Jar then did some odd thing where his tongue touched his nose. Rabè couldn't stop the smile that appeared on her face when Eirtaé reached up and bopped him softly on his head. 

"Maybe you'll be quiet now, hmm?" Eirtaé did a small mock-glare, she was great at those. Too great, apparently because Jar Jar started cowering. 

"Back on track -- Hey, Jar Jar, there's no need to stop walking! Look, we need to figure out a good place to search... Eirtaé, you're good with psychology, where's a good place these people would go?" 

"Some place comforting. Homelike, maybe." Eirtaé's eyebrows crinkled as she thought. 

They went on that way for a few minutes until Jar Jar started whining about a loud sound. 

"What loud sound would that be, Jar Jar?" Rabè examinded his large ears before deciding that anything loud to him could just be a bug. 

"Da sound of bad things coming thisa wayz!" He started jumping up and down, full of way to much energy. 

Eirtaè sighed, " Jar Jar, nothing's around us." The younger handmaiden took a patronizing glance around them before stuttering out. "Rabè, do not tell me that's what it think it is, do not!" 

Rabè turned around and immediately wished she hadn't. A horned man with tattoos littering his face stood directly in her line of vision. "I'm sure it isn't." She paused. "It looks like it's much worse." 

"Do me a favor and don't have kids. I so don't think a child could stand this much comforting."

------------------ 

Luke had climbed up into the rocks along the canyon wall to try and meditate. His emotions had been high and vacillating all day, from the sheer joy of seeing his father whole and innocent, to sullen rage at thinking what he had become. He thought he'd come the closest in Mos Espa, just before they'd been captured... he was angry at how things turned out, and he needed to acknowledge that and deal with it... but he wanted to save this boy. 

He loved his father. 

In a way, it was repulsive to know that. Was he so desperate for a piece of his past that he was actually willing to forgive Darth Vader, who had spread terror and destruction across the galaxy? 

But it didn't feel that way. It didn't feel like he was forgiving him at all. He closed his eyes and concentrated on his meditation -- not on the Force, or trying to see the future, but on trying to see his own heart. The vision that came was of himself, lightsaber raised, storming a vast fortress. It was guarded by Vader... but not Vader. In an upper window, looking helplessly down at the sharp rocks, was his Father, the boy down in the canyon now. He was begging, beseeching... 

That was wishful thinking. 

"Not necessarily." 

Luke opened his eyes, startled. Qui-Gon Jinn had made his way up to the narrow place, and sat perched on a sharp rock where Luke had been unable to find purchase. 

"You saw that?" 

"I apologize," Jinn said, giving him a warm smile. "I didn't mean to intrude. But you... do not block terribly well. The vision simply seeped out of you. The creature at the door, this is a person you know?" 

Luke nodded. "It's Father. Father as he is now." 

"So I feared." Jinn looked down across the canyon, and Luke noticed for the first time that Lando had arrived, with a girl about Mother's age, dressed in a colorful uniform. Her face was painted white. Lando was looking oddly at Father. Jinn sighed. "I had wondered about your mixed feelings, padawan. You have met, then?" 

"We have. We fought. He told me the truth." 

"The truth is a valuable gift to give." 

Luke shook his head. "Hardly a gift." 

"A difficult gift, padawan. Yet still a gift, I believe. This truth you know -- it has made you see things differently." 

"It's made me confused." 

"Confusion is the first mark of wisdom. Only a fool is always sure." 

Luke couldn't imagine why he found the conversation vaguely comforting, but he did. He smiled. "Maybe I'd rather be foolish." 

"So you say now." 

"Ben... Obi-Wan... told me that Vader betrayed and murdered my father. You know him. Why would he lie like that?" 

"He wouldn't. I imagine he believes it, at least from some point of view... " 

"Believed." 

Jinn's face grew slack and sad. "That is not an easy truth to contemplate. Obi-Wan is like a son to me." 

"And he was like a father to me." 

Jinn raised an eyebrow, dissipating the gloom. "Which I suppose makes me your spiritual grandfather." 

Luke surprised himself by giving a small laugh. "I suppose." 

Jinn grew serious again. "Luke, your burden is not an easy one to bear. But there is strength in you that you do not suspect. And your vision -- " 

"My vision was wishful thinking. Anakin Skywalker isn't a prisoner that Vader is keeping. They're the same person. I just want them to be different." 

"I can see that, and you're correct. It would be dangerous to begin thinking of them as separate people. But the man I saw in your vision, the threshold guardian... even he is not wholly lost, at least not in your view." 

"No, you're wrong, you don't know what I've seen... " 

"Look at your vision again, Luke. Look closely. Watch what you see. It is not realistically true, of course, but you sense something. You sense something and you have created it symbolically." 

Luke reluctantly examined his childish image again, feeling self-conscious now that he knew Jinn was looking. Father was standing at the window, looking down. Vader paced below the door, lightsaber drawn... 

No, the lightsaber wasn't drawn. Vader was watching and waiting, but he wasn't attacking. Luke himself was the one doing the attacking. 

He looked at the window, but that was no help. Father was reaching to him, but it was too far. His hands dangled out and... 

Luke focused on the vision, seeing something suddenly that he hadn't seen before: from each of Father's fingers, a gossamer-thin thread floated down, and attached to Vader like a puppet. As he watched one of the threads broke, and Father lost control, but his face grew intent, and he spun it again somehow. He lost control, and he lost it often, Luke thought. But he could regain it. 

He opened his eyes. Qui-Gon Jinn was smiling sadly. "Did you see what your vision was saying?"

------------------ 

Eirtaé groaned to herself as the tattooed monstrosity motioned for them to follow. A little unsteadily, they did so, not quite sure what Tattoo would do if they didn't. 

Walking across the desert, Eirtaé had to shield her eyes from the biting sand. She could just imagine the galactic travel brochures. _Visit Tatooine, for a day in the sun! There's always an empty beach, where you can perfect your tan. So, for fun in the sun, with gambling on the side, Tatooine! _

After many bitter mental tangents, the small group reached a transport. A very expensive looking transport. _What is a ship like that doing in a place like this?_

Tattoo glared at them and ran a pink tongue over his fangs. He then started walking in, making it painfully clear they should follow. She had to stifle a giggle when she saw both Rabé and Jar Jar stick out their tongues at his turned back. 

Unwillingly, they followed Tattoo into the complex hallway mazes. As if trying to learn the layout for an escape course wasn't hard enough, Jar Jar kept mumbling, "Thism berry bad." 

After a few minutes of that, Eirtaé really wanted to hit him. Unfortunately, that would only draw unwanted attention to themselves. 

Speaking of unwanted attention, Eirtaé held in a gasp as Rabé took out a bottle of bright pink nail polish and threw out the contents at Tattoo's back. _Well, that's one way to get back at someone._

Finally, reached a small sparse room, where a figure sat. He turned to face them and an aura of power hit her all at once, making her want to kneel and beg and scream for forgiveness all at once. 

"Ahh. The young Handmaidens. Thank you, Maul, they will be of great use. You may go now." The man faced the armored men in red. "Dispose of the alien." 

Rabé's voice rose, cracking just a little. "You can't do this! I don't know who you think you are but---" 

"I am the Emperor, my dear. And I can do whatever I wish." Eirtaé shuddered as she watched him smile. It was sinister, it was wrong. It made her feel like she should go wash just from standing near him. 

"What do you want from us?" Eirtaé was shocked to hear herself saying that, she supposed her mind was running on automatic. 

"Isn't it obvious? Blackmail for your Queen and for my Skywalkers." He chuckled a little. "For what is a Sith without a following?" 

Rabé, always one for information, spoke up. "I thought there could only be two, Emperor." 

"Yes, well, I'm not one for tradition. Besides, young one, when they had only two, did Sith rule over all? I do." 

Jar Jar, the ever straightforward, stupid guy he was, spoke up. "Thism berry nuts. Yousa berry nuts!" 

A red guard took a quick glance at the Emperor and in an attempt to stop the coming ire, spoke up quickly. "Your opinion matters so much to us, alien. It really does. Now come, it's cell-time for you." 

"That taken care of, do you wish to tell me how you got here?" The Emperor made sure his tone was pleasing, but Eirtaé wasn't falling for it. 

"Not really." Faster then she would have thought humanly possible, blue lightening shot out of the leader's fingertips. Rabé crumpled to the ground in a grotesque parody of a puppet. 

He turned. "Now, Eirtaé dear, do you wish to tell me?"

------------------ 

Vader could feel the Emperor somewhere nearby. His transport had landed, but his presence was so overwhelming that it seemed to come from everywhere at once, which wasn't helpful when trying to pinpoint a location. Whatever happened, he couldn't allow Amidala to see Palpatine. She would know everything then, and Palpatine was not enough of a fool to believe she would simply go back and act out the old script again. _Almost_ enough of a fool, Vader thought sometimes, when feeling particularly morose -- his Master was powerful and intelligent, but his ego was so large that he often made very preventable mistakes by underestimating his enemies (_and those he thinks are his allies_, a soft voice whispered in Vader's mind, as it frequently did) -- but not quite. 

He could feel Amidala a few feet behind him, could almost see her face. She would be wearing her expression of practiced academic interest, her eyebrows ever so slightly arched, eyes looking pointedly at one object or another... never wide-eyed wonder, never disinterest. _I am aware,_ that look said. _I see everything and I understand everything, or will very soon. You can hide nothing from me._

Vader stopped walking outside the room that contained his hyperbaric chamber (apparently, his presence had been expected in some quarters; a ship that suited his needs had been brought). "You cannot remain with me, Amidala," he said. 

"I will remain where I choose to remain." 

Her voice was neither angry nor defiant. She was stating a fact, nothing more. Vader smiled beneath his mask. "The galaxy has changed since you last walked in it." 

"I can't say I find it an improvement." She came around him, gave him a guarded look. 

"Though I suppose that if you really mean to send me away, you have the power at your disposal to have me dragged." 

"Yes, I do." 

She nodded. "Well, if that's really what you want, you can call the guards." 

It was not at all what Vader wanted. The urge to have her leave had only a slight advantage in his mind as it was; the idea of seeing her dragged away by stormtroopers -- almost certainly straight to Palpatine, he was beginning to think; it would solve all the problems Palpatine perceived to remove her from the picture -- was enough to defeat it. So he simply looked away from her. "You must leave," he repeated, though he had little hope of changing her mind. 

"And where would I go? Our chi -- our son has been captured, and escaped, and I don't know where he and my companions have gone. My ship is certainly observed by now." 

__

She started to say, "Our children," Vader thought. _An interesting piece of information to stow away, and it... feels true. There is another. How?_ But this was not the time to pursue the matter. Her suspicions were already up. She was keeping her later self's secret out of some autocannibalistic loyalty. He thought it wise not to disturb it quite yet. 

"These are my private chambers," he said. "I will rejoin you shortly." 

"I'm coming in with you." 

"My _private_ chambers." 

"So, I'm to wait in the hall?" 

Vader wanted to sigh -- loudly -- but of course it wasn't possible. "Very well," he said. "You may enter." 

She smiled. "Thank you." 

------------------ 

Amidala entered Ani's quarters not knowing what to expect at all. Yesterday, his room had been neat, if packed with too many toys and projects for its size. These quarters were beyond neat; they were sterile. Surfaces gleamed dully at her, and terminals blinked in shades of green. A viewscreen dominated one wall. The only pieces of furniture were a small couch and a metal bubble of some sort that dominated the center of the room. 

Ani indicated the couch. "Sit here," he said. "I will rejoin you." He hit a control panel, and the metal bubble split open, dull teeth appearing in the maw. Ani walked toward it, like a martyr stepping into a draigon's mouth in a fairy tale. robotic arms were beginning to emerge. 

Amidala had seen the beginnings of such technology -- pneumatic respirators were not completely unheard of in her own time -- and she knew the function. This bubble was a place where he could exist without the mask. She had been starting to sit on the couch -- she _was_ willing to give him some privacy; she just didn't want to leave him -- but the implications of that hit her, and she stopped. She could see him. She could truly see Ani, not this mask. She could look into his eyes and understand who he had become and why he still loved her, and why she was not afraid of him even though she knew she should be. She could see the face of her husband. Of her otherself. 

But she didn't know how to ask such thing, even how to begin to ask for it. So she simply turned to him, looked at the bubble and glanced back up. 

He drew back, horrified. "No," he said. "I absolutely forbid it." 

She lowered her eyes. "I understand." 

To her surprise, he didn't immediately go inside and shut her out. "The oxygen would make you dizzy, anyway," he said. 

"I've been dizzy before." She chanced a glance up at him. 

He was standing uncertainly, his head cocked slightly to one side, one hand lifted toward the bubble controls but not doing anything. "If you see me as I am, you'll never see anything else in me," he said. "There is a face between the one you know and the one you see that I would... prefer you to think of." 

"Do you think I can forget this mask?" And there it was. The truth. She hadn't realized it, and it was an ugly, awful truth. She wanted to see his face because she couldn't bear the thought of marrying a monster and a face would help... _Dear Maker, am I really so shallow?_ She looked away, sat on the small couch. "I'm sorry. I don't mean..." 

A hand fell on her shoulder, gently. "You would not be human if this did not... disturb you. We are visual creatures. I am aware of the effect. I am not offended." 

"I am still sorry." 

"Come. It is not a pleasant sight, but if you would see it, you may." 

Amidala stood shakily, and followed him into the bubble. The teeth closed, and they stood together in the belly of the beast. Ani said nothing. He simply sat in the robotic chair, and let the machinery begin its work. 

Amidala felt the effects of the changed air immediately as she heard it hissing through the vents. She felt slightly intoxicated within minutes, but also hyper-alert. The bright white of the walls seemed to glow out at her, and she could hear the ratcheting clicks of the machines as they worked around her. She kept her eyes on Ani to keep her focus. 

A clamp descended from the roof to pull up his helmet, while two arms from the sides of the chair rose and undid a series of complex connections in the underworkings of the mask. He reached his own hand up to pull the the circuit-laden shell from his head. 

The skin on his scalp was shockingly white, and marked with a network of thick, ropy scars. It looked like his skull had literally split open at some point. 

A small robotic arm worked the breathing apparatus, and made more disconnections, and Ani finally pulled away the mask that covered his face. 

The scars continued here, even more deeply offensive against a beauty Amidala could still see the shadows of, like a crystal vase glued together by a clumsy child. Tubes were permanently set into his neck at various points, and small microphones reached up from the neckpiece of the suit to rest near the corners of his mouth. But in that ruined face, under dark eyebrows that had been improbably preserved, like precious gems sinking in clay, Ani's eyes looked out at her, the same intense, gray-blue eyes that had watched her so lovingly in Watto's shop. 

"Now," he said, "you have seen all." 

She came forward to the chair, looked into those eyes, and smiled. Maybe it was too much oxygen, maybe it was her weariness, maybe it was just wishful thinking, but she was not repulsed by what she was seeing. All she could see was Ani, as he was last night, bone tired from working all day, falling asleep near his pod. Between that tired boy and this ruined man, the man who would be her husband hovered, and she understood that when the time came, she would be glad of it. She reached out and touched his face. 

He flinched away, but couldn't go far, locked into the chair as he was. She drew her hand back instinctively, but made herself reach out again. This time, he did not avoid it. She leaned forward and kissed his forehead, for all the world as if she were the adult and he still the tired child. "Thank you, Ani," she said. "Thank you for letting me know you." 

For a long moment, he simply held her gaze. Then his eyes grew distant, and he moved her hand from his face. "You have seen nothing, Amidala. Nothing of who I am now. And you have been in this atmosphere too long for your health. Leave." He placed an emergency breather in his mouth, and opened the jaws of the chamber. 

Amidala nodded, and left him to his privacy.


	5. Chapter 5

As far as a disclaimer, you know the drill.

------------------ 

Her mother was lost to the misery of the desert. The exact details were unknown, but that was the one certainty afforded Leia, and it frightened her beyond anything she'd ever felt before. 

Luke and Qui-Gon stood high above her, and she wished desperately for that same sort of instant mentorship, or at the very least an immediate return to the _Falcon_. Just an escape from the very frightening possibility that this trip was not part of the original timeline, and her very existence might be on the verge of being erased -- that was all she wanted. She surveyed the scene about her -- Lando was bantering lightly with the Nubian Queen, Obi-Wan swung a lightsaber about with a sense of furious haste she didn't quite think was Jedi-like. 

Anakin stared sourly in the direction of the city they'd just fled from. Everything came to her in a rush. The story upon story of this child's future as a very powerful Jedi connected with his initial, very visible fear for her mother. _Perhaps even at this young age he has that same sense of the future that Luke does?_

She bit her lip, shut her eyes, and willed everything to be right when her eyes opened. 

__

I hope something hasn't happened. 

Images of sand and sameness flooded her vision, and Anakin Skywalker turned around as if he heard her screaming, and blinked.

------------------ 

Anakin had been staring at the city for a long time. He _wasn't_ dead -- he didn't know how his older self had survived the betrayal Leia had spoken of, and he was certain no-one really knew enough to tell him -- and Padmé had found him. 

It was the strangest feeling. It came to him in the same way he'd ordered the guard, or flown a Pod, or known that something was about to happen back on the Queen's ship. But this Force wasn't just a tool that he used now, it felt like it was using him. It found him whenever it pleased: in Watto's shop, on the Imperial ship. 

He was so focused on the unnameable that, when something understandable did find its way to him, he was startled out of his skin. 

"I hope something hasn't happened." 

He turned around to see Leia, staring out where he had stared. She looked more than a little startled to see that he had turned around. 

"She's all right," he said tiredly. 

Leia's voice was barely at a whisper. "How do you know that?" 

"I just do."

------------------ 

Rabé was exhausted. Her entire body fault like it would crumble to dust if she was so much as tapped. She had been kept up all night, answering the Emperor's questions as she deigned fit. Not the smartest move, as she had found out later. 

Apparently, the Emperor liked to play with his "guests". When he had gotten bored of her apparent insolence (Not that she considered it insolence, but hey, she was willing to give on this) he had Force-pushed her into a wall, happily talking about that if she did that again, he'd have her dissected while she was still alive. 

A guard had picked her up and carefully dropped her onto the floor in some cell. A bed-less cell. It seemed like they were going for sleep deprivation. 

The worst thing of it all was that Rabé had the awful feeling he was someone she had met before. She wasn't sure who, she had met many people, but someone who'd she 

had known long enough to make an impression. 

Finally, she grew tired enough that the dank, hard floor just didn't matter and she fell into a turbulent sleep. 

"I'm sorry, your Sithness. I truly am." Rabé smirked and ignored the signs Eirtaé was giving her to say sorry. Sorry? She was a lady of Naboo and she did not apologize to men who had too much self worth. 

The Emporer raised a hand, after that she just knew pain. She was up against the wall, being slammed while tiny invisible pins stuck her. Over and over again, she was in throbbing pain, crying out in terror to unwavering ears. "Sorry! Sorry! I swear, by the Gods, I'm sorry!" 

Just as suddenly as it had begun, it stopped. 

"You've learned your lesson, haven't you? It's one that will serve you well in years to come, dear. Be warned though, you do this again and I will cut you open piece by piece while you're awake enough to seen it done. I can get my information about the Jedi and Queen just as easily from that method. Now go!" 

A red armored guard picked her up and cradled the thrashing handmaiden in his arms. "I'll take her to her cell, Emperor Palpatine...." 

She woke up, sweat glistening on her face. It was later, she knew that much but she still hadn't gotten enough sleep. She had a sinking feeling though, that she wouldn't be getting enough sleep for a very long time. 

Trying to get her mind off what had happened, her mind clung to one thing. Palpatine and the strangely familiar voice. 

No. No, it couldn't be. Rabé realized with a jolt that she had to get to the Queen before she was tricked. It would be simple after all. The kindly old Senator goes to the Queen, claiming he was in hiding. Before she knew what had happened.... 

Nothing was happening. Rabé was getting to her Queen, and quickly. Just as soon as she could get to Eirtaé, they were out.

------------------ 

The Emperor shifted impatiently, waiting for Maul to arrive. He had forgotten that Maul had always been late. Glorifying the dead, he supposed. Maul, after all, had been the first in a long line of many who had died for him. 

Not the last, though. if he had it his way, there would never have to be a last. 

After a few minutes, Maul arrived, tilting his head as though he was a Master giving judgment. _At least Vader can't make annoying facial expressions._

Thinking of Vader, Palpatine hadn't felt his apprentice's mental presence in a while. A little odd but Vader had been doing that more and more lately. Palpatine gave him free rein though because he would come back. Rebellious apprentices always did. 

Moving on, Palpatine was growing bored and he needed something to liven this situation. A fight between his two apprentices, perhaps? The son of Skywalker was on Tatooine somewhere, he could set that fight up rather well. 

Deciding to search Vader's mind for a fun game, he let his mind travel the distance. A few seconds later, he drew back in disgust. __No. He was not feeling good intentions! He was not! Ooh, by the Sith, Vader was caring! Feeling friendship! 

I did not spend all this time working on Vader just to be foiled! 

"Go Maul. Go and get the prisoners. We have business to take care of." 

__

"Yes, Master. Including the Gungan?"

"If I hadn't wanted him, I would have said so. Were you always so needy, Maul?" 

Darth Maul stalked out, putting his shields up tight. 

The Emporer smirked and got off his throne, preparing to go look for his rarely used mask. It covered his scars, his wrinkles, his face. It was the toll that the Dark Side had taken and he had paid it gladly. Still, a mask would be best in this situation. 

It will be a much sweeter kill if the mother of Skywalker believes she has been betrayed by an old friend... Takes away her hoper rather nicely. As it is, I know everything I must in order to defeat these Jedi. Holding her cannot help me. It can only hurt me. 

And, unlike some people, I know when to cut my losses. 

Unfortunately for Vader, that girl-Queen just had it coming.

------------------ 

Obi-Wan woke from a restless sleep. Something was wrong. He knew it, felt it in every inch of his body. He was tingling, he felt alive, he was elated, in pain, everything he had ever felt at once. 

Obi-Wan had never felt anything like this but it was safe to say that it was a bad omen. 

Something was amiss, something was very, very off. Yet, Qui-Gon and that annoying Luke "I'm a Jedi at Only Twenty-one" Skywalker seemed fine. They would know if something was going to happen, wouldn't they? 

Hopefully. 

Nothing was going to hapen here. Lando was at sentry duty and he didn't seem to think anything was amiss. The captain may not have had Jedi senses but he seemed the type to know what was going on around him. 

Still. Obi-Wan walked over to Lando, motioning for him to quit. 

"It's not your turn yet, kid." Lando's voice sounded sleepy, it was probably a good thing he had come over. 

He tried not to take offense at the kid remark (He was twenty-four, thank-you-very-much!) and spoke quietly. "I can't sleep." 

"Whatever." Lando turned to go to the small campsite but looked over his shoulder. 

"Thanks, alright?" 

Obi-Wan nodded and just stared at the stars, waiting for something that might not come.

------------------ 

Vader watched the closing of his chamber under she was completely obscured by the thick metallic walls, then ripped the emergency breather out of his mouth with enough force to cut his lip. He tasted his own blood, and spit it out. Poison. 

He could still feel her kiss resting on his forehead, an exotic bird perched in the branches of the energy between them. He remembered other kisses, other caresses, bright and gleaming beacons in the dark of the night, awakening the desires of a body that no longer existed, a heart seared beyond normal functioning, a soul long ago sold. The girl outside... she was his friend. The woman she would become was his 

__

(angel) 

life, and the only part of his soul that nothing had been able to erase. 

She was Amidala, but she was also, in some ways, Anakin, or, at the very least, she carried him with her. Vader had silenced his old voice as thoroughly as he could over the years, refusing to hear his name, refusing to acknowledge his past. But when Amidala re-entered his world, his name, the name he had spent two decades building, became as much a mask as the one that covered his face. And she did it without even trying. 

She makes you weak. 

(i don't feel weak) 

She steals your anger. 

(glad to get rid of it for a little while) 

And with it, your power. 

(nononono) 

But, to the last, there was no real answer. Vader knew that he could not draw on the apparently endless reservoir of fire if he did not recapture his anger. 

__

She shouldn't have come. She had no right to follow, and certainly not to kiss me... 

It didn't work. 

__

That's because you know, in your wretched excuse for a heart, that it started before she came back. Before she followed, before she saw, before she kissed. You know that. 

He did know it. He'd been weary since Bespin. Since at last he'd shared the whole truth with Luke. 

Now, they are both here, on this world. I don't stand a chance against both of them.

------------------ 

Mon Mothma blinked, a sign to those who knew her that something was seriously wrong. She was going to have to give a speech to her troops in a few minutes about the upcoming siege on DS2. 

The thirty-one-year old redhead didn't really like running a military organization, she would be much happier making suggestions on what to do in a Senate. Unfortunately, that wasn't an option. 

Some days she wasn't sure who that was more unfortunate for, herself or the soliders. 

She walked a little, pondering whether the speech would go well or not. 

"Yeah, I'm sure sending everyone to their deaths will go over real well," she gaped a little, bringing her hand to her lips when she realized what she had said. "Did I really say that?" 

Mothma was in an uncharacteristically sarcastic mood. Normally, she was a very nice person, really she was. Calm, serene, all those nice things. She left the temper tantrums to her Generals. 

She guessed that happened to people when their well planned out assaults fell to pieces. Not because of the enemy, but because your allies who could have helped on this assault still weren't here! 

Luke Skywalker was needed for morale, as the only one who had been around when the original had blown up. 

Chewbacca could have helped greatly as could have those Jedi Knights Leia mentioned in that brief message. But no, she had to stay on Tatooine and let the rest of the galaxy rot. 

Leia and Han themselves would be of great use. 

Mon Mothma could only hope they would arrive within the next three days. After that, the Rebellion couldn't afford to wait any longer. 

"Please come Leia. Please." With that out, the leader of the Rebels walked into 

------------------ 

  
Palpatine got out of his landspeeder and walked at a dignified pace, a reminder to Maul that he was the Master. He didn't want Maul to forget who was the Emperor, after all. 

Or too forget who held the power. That had happened with the apprentice before Maul, his first apprentice, a young human female named Willow Karyk. Just look what happened to her, dead for well over 40 years. 

Eirtaé, the only one around him who actually knew when to shut up, spoke up. "What are we doing?" 

__

"Be quiet girl. You'll find out soon enough." Maul broadcast his thought rather loudly. Loud enough for Vader to have heard. Good. He would be out soon. 

Palpatine had decided to make the message much better. He'd discussed it with Maul and had decided the best way to get Vader's attenton was through violence. 

"Who says violence doesn't solve anything?" 

Eirtaé spoke up softly. "The people who can't fight?" 

He laughed and then nodded his head. In a second, Maul's lightsaber was at the throats of the handmaidens. The fear on their faces fed the Dark Side rather nicely. 

Jar Jar cowering didn't really hurt his fun in this either. Ever since that Gungan had helped to defeat his troops on Naboo... Well, let's just say there was a reason Gungans weren't around in the galaxy anymore. 

Let's see how Vader reacts to this.

------------------ 

Vader jerked, very suddenly. He was still in his chamber but he needed out and now. The Emporer and Maul had broadcast their thoughts loud enough for non-sensitives to hear and that was not good, it meant they were cocky. There would have to be a reason for that. 

He put on his mask, it being the despicable thing it was and pressed a small button. It released the chamber doors with a bang. 

A second later, Amidala was up and sharing a little strained smile with him. Not an expression he really wanted to see on Ami's face. 

"Hello Anakin," Ami stopped suddenly, obviously thinking of something else. If Vader had been able to roll his eyes, he would have now. He was such a fan of awkward silences. They were just so **fun**. 

"I have to go," he paused. "I'm sorry. But please, Ami, don't come. It's not safe." 

She quirked a smile, "Are you trying to ditch me?" 

"Never. Now, please, stay in the ship, Amidala. I would not be very happy if anything were to happen to you because you wouldn't listen. And believe me, you do not wish to see me unhappy." 

He picked up his lightsabers on the counter and left, hopefully having convinced her to stay wher it was nice and safe. 

Going outside the ship, he saw a scene that shocked him. He had been expecting... _I was expecting anything besides Eirtaé, one of my supporters to the Queen back then and Rabé, a friend held up hostage. And Jar Jar, a living, breathing reminder from his Padawan days._

Vader knew what he had to do. He drew his lightsaber and spoke in even tones. "Let them go."

------------------ 

__

I just do. 

Leia laughed. It wasn't humor, just a fondness. Anakin Skywalker was so much like Luke that she found she could connect to him instinctively. 

No, that wasn't right. It wasn't because he was so much like Luke. It was because he and Luke both had that... something... that called to her. She could connect to him as instinctively as she did in the same way she had connected to Luke on the Death Star. It was like recognizing someone she hadn't seen for a very long time. 

"It's true," he said earnestly, and she realized that he thought she was doubting his sense of her mother's safety. "I don't know why I know it, but I do. Really." 

She smiled at him. "I know." She sat down on the ground, crossing her legs beneath her. Standing beside her, his chin rested just above her head. He put his hand on her hair, not at all tentatively, and to her surprise, she found comfort in the gesture. 

His gaze drifted out across the desert. Whatever he knew or didn't know, he was worried. "She's out there," he said. "She -- " His brow creased in a puzzled way. "She was on the ship with us. She came on when... when we all felt... when I... " 

"When Vader came?" Leia finished. She felt her eyes go wide, her palms get cold and sweaty. "She's with _Vader?_ We have to get her out of there, she's in danger; Vader is... he's... " Leia tried to think of words to explain Vader to this poor boy, words that wouldn't frighten him, but would tell him the danger. "He'll betray her," she said. "He'll betray her, just like he betrayed 

__

(me) 

you." 

"He didn't betray me," Anakin Skywalker said. 

"He murdered you." 

"He is me." 

Leia's mind refused to process that information. Impossible. She _liked_ this boy, with his kind smile and skilled hands, his soft voice and powerful presence... 

She was shaking, her vision wasn't clear. The kind smile was new. The skilled hands, the soft voice, the powerful presence... those thing she knew. Had always known. 

She found that she couldn't stand. She stumbled back away from him. 

He didn't follow.

------------------ 

Vader knew he couldn't let this happen. Amidala, perhaps not _his _Amidala but her all the same, was back. Right and wrong were now clearly different. No longer was everything gray. 

He couldn't just say, 'Well, from a certain point of view, I did the galaxy well by killing off that planet. They were scum, ready to infest us with their ways.' 

Fortunately or unfortunately, he couldn't decide, he just couldn't justify innocent killings anymore. 

He supposed it was amusing. The positions had been switched. No longer was it Darth Vader with the inner voice of a Jedi Knight. Now it was Anakin Skywalker, a Jedi Knight who heard Sith Lord whisperings. 

"You will let them go Maul." 

__

"You're getting old, Vader. Let's see you try and stop me." 

Nodding slowly, he pulled out his old lightsaber, it was familiar and would serve him well in this fight. Looking into it's glow he spoke. "I would rather watch you fail at stopping me." 

In a flash, their blades met, hissing at each other, each trying to gain the upper hand. Listening to Palpatine's urges for a death as the blades hits were parried again and again. Hearing the wind rustle, the Force scream their names out, the smell of burning flesh as small wounds were made. 

None of that mattered though, only the fight. Anything else was secondary, to be put aside. Minutes passed, hardening a determination to press on. To win, to lose, neither mattered anymore. 

Maul was now running, building up speed, Vader knew this trick, you somersaulted over someone's head and then stabbed your opponent from the back. 

It was much too flashy. One of the only lessons he had ever paid attention to from Master Obi-Wan was, flashy got people killed. 

Apparently, Palpatine never taught that. 

Vader held out his lightsaber at just the right moment, waiting for what he knew would happen. 

It happened. 

Maul was chopped in half, his blood grotesquely turning the sand red. Vader fell to his knees, looking at the blood on his hands. Maul had started everything, Maul had had to die. For revenge, for the loyalty left in him for the Jedi. Sick as it seemed, he was happy Maul was gone. 

Shuddering after the battle haze has passed, Vader stood and wildly looked around for Palpatine. _Where is he? Where--No! Ami!_

------------------ 

  
Frowning, Amidala looked at Senator Palpatine. "So, the Empire just keeps you around?" 

He coughed, not surprisingly, the old man was probably sickly. "It's good public relations, my dear. I was stationed on this ship a while ago, to help them make good decisions." He grimaced. "I hate it. I hate how everyone is scared of my name, I hate giving orders to kill, deciding on who lives and who dies. I hate knowing that I can do this to people to stay alive." 

They turned a corner in a hallway, Amidala feeling a little uncomfortable. _I have no idea how to comfort someone for something like this... Well, I'll just have to make sure he leaves with us. I'm sure Luke knows some places where the Senator can hide.... Or very possibly, Anakin does._

The thought made Amidala smile. "So, where are we going?" 

"Away. I can't let you rot in this ship, Ami, until Vader tires of you and kills you like he did the original!" 

__

No. No, no, no, he's lying. He's lying, Ani wouldn't have done that. He's a good man! Underneath everything, he had values! He wouldn't... No! Liar! 

She was crying, she realized distantly. Tears were falling down her cheeks very silently. Everything was blurry, especially Senator Liar over there but that was good because if she couldn't see him, she didn't have to believe him. 

"You lie." 

His eyes widened and they kept on walking. "What do I have to gain from a lie? Especially when the truth is so much more painful, dear girl." He paused. "I have decided to kill you. We're now in an empty part of the ship where anyone loyal to Vader can't just accidentally shoot me down." 

They stopped to a halt and Ami realized very suddenly, she was going to die. "Will you tell me why?" 

"That's simple, young Queen. You see, you have turned Vader. He has, in turn, killed young Maul. Such a pity. Besides," he paused. "I just don't like you. And I am the Emperor, I can do whatever I want." 

Here he ripped off his face, no, his mask, showing grotesque wrinkles, scars, everything you never wanted to see on a face and more. Amidala closed her eyes and thought of her children. If she had to die, she would not do it thinking of this old man and his lies. 

"No. You can't." Vader! With a jerk Amidala opened her eyes. She saw him strike, she saw the Emperor retaliate with some lightening from his fingertips. She saw... No! Ani! 

He was on the ground, writhing in pain. Amidala couldn't take it, she ran to his side and kneeled. She breathed out sayings, telling him he would be okay, that he had to be fine, that the children needed him. 

The Emperor, that... So many sayings filled her head she couldn't decide on just one, laughed. "I'll leave you alone, now. Watch his death, Queen. Then run out, and tell 

young Skywalker. He'll come, full of anger and then I will have my new apprentice. Farewell." 

Amidala screamed full of rage, grief and fear. _I'll get Luke here. I promise that._

With that vow in mind, she turned to Ani, trying desperately not to cry on him.

------------------ 

His first thoughts turned to the prohibitive new clicking sound accompanying his each strained breath, and these gave way to epiphany-like yet isolated flashes that reminded him that this was real, and he was going to die, and Amidala was hovering over him. 

__

(Are you an angel?) 

He wanted to laugh, but restrained himself from doing so. It was inappropriate. He winced at that, that he was maintaining the emotional mask during his last chance to rip it off -- and considered removing his physical mask, but decided against it; he was sure to be discovered by some miscreant stormtrooper, and wanted some dignity. He tried to focus on what she was saying. 

It was strings of syllables, mostly incoherent, but -- as she realized that this death was not going to be immediate, but rather drawn-out as deaths go, and uncomfortable -- she calmed down, and began talking in the soothing voice she would have used on the Nubian when she would have found his younger self shivering in a corner, and he felt some surprise that he was allowing himself to be lulled into nothingness. 

__

The children need you, Ani ... 

Again, plural: children. But who? How? Only a multiple birth ... 

__

I don't know what's happened, but I won't let it happen ... I'm going to tell ... **you** everything I **do** know. I'll kill him with my own bare hands. I'll get back to my time, and I'll -- I don't know. Give him a hug, and plunge a knife in his back. Send the entire royal guard into his quarters the next time he visits Naboo. I'll have a thousand deaths for him, Ani, all so that you might live ... 

Fighting against the click-click-click, to know, to have something to impart. "The other ... child ... who?" 

Her face, what he could etch out in his mind among the fading spots, twisted curiously. 

__

Her name is Leia. She's beautiful, Ani, so strong ... 

The Alderaanian princess? And yes, the surface of Ami's mind was covered in images of her, and everything about _that_ time was made right by it, made less bewildering. 

Images of the girl standing in the Great Hall in the Royal Palace on Alderaan floated up, as did memories of quashing that same voice that forced him to protect the girl who, at that very moment, fiercely believed that she was not just talking to her herself -- which inevitably dragged up every encounter with 

__

(his family) 

certain people in an inhuman clarity. Connections between them were forged at every impasse. 

Beneath his mask, he smiled, and realized that she was silent, waiting for something -- for _him_ to say something. Anything. 

__

(There are places I cannot follow you) 

Memories that weren't even his invaded his mind. She stood in his ... home, eyes turning each absent corner ... 

"Ani?" 

__

(Ani, I've come home) 

Whatever grand thing he should've said left him. He stared at the girl's frightened face, and the woman's frightened face, and saw for the first time the constant. 

"You're still here," he said, which drew her eyebrows together in confusion, and he 

was certain that would be it--

------------------ 

Amidala held his hands as tightly as they could. They were twitching and convulsing, and sometimes it hurt, but this was the place Palpatine had meant _her_ to be in, and he had taken it, and... 

__

Oh, Maker help me... he's dying for me... 

"You're still here..." he whispered, then the sounds ceased. 

Not all at once. The mechanics of the suit were not equally damaged. One hand continued to move and the labored pneumatics went on, simply becoming raspier. But the sparking sounds that went through his limbs ceased, the _frying_ sound of blown circuits... those went. 

Then the pneumatics slowed completely. There was a rattle, then the ceaseless, even breath disappeared, and the night was horribly, dreadfully silent. 

She bent over him, pulling him up to her with weary arms. A shock went through one hand as a bit of stray electrical wire touched her skin, but she didn't care. "Ani," she whispered to him. "My Ani..." 

All sense left her for a moment, all will to act. She simply wanted to stay here in the desert, holding her husband-to-be in her arms and waiting for whatever end might come. 

__

Run, Amidala. 

She lifted her head. The voice was coming from both everywhere and nowhere. 

"Ani?" 

__

Run. He will return. Quickly. 

The strength began to come back into her legs -- his strength? her own? were they different? -- and she stood uncertainly. She could still stop this. This was not inevitable. And she had to get home to do it. But she couldn't leave him here, for the desert scavengers. She had to take him with her. She owed him -- 

__

Amidala, don't think. Run. 

She ran, closing her heart to the thought of the womp rats and dragons coming to feed. 

Her feet carried her into the open desert. She had never been here, but she felt every turn in her bones. There was a strange, fading sensation as she left him behind... and another sense as she... 

Approached him? 

Yes. She could see, in the distance, the faint light of a glowstick. 

Ani was ahead. Her own Ani. 

And she would see to it that nothing ever hurt him again.

------------------ 

Luke felt Vader's passing like the shifting of the sand -- a vortex opened in the Force, a swirling vacuum that pulled at him like the winds of a sandstorm and blinded him like the suns. He'd fallen to his knees without knowing it, and he felt Qui-Gon Jinn's hands on his shoulders. 

"Luke!" 

"He's gone." 

A pause, slight. "Yes, I believe so." 

"Master!" Ben's voice broke the night, and the sound of pebbles sliding marked his progress up the cliff face. He was in a hurry. "Master! Come quickly! It's the boy!" 

Luke thought he wouldn't have the strength to stand -- _how can anything hit that hard without any warning?_ -- but he found himself running after Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan, scrambling down into the canyon. 

Lando and the Queen were standing back in frightened silence. Leia stood at the edge of their small circle, watching with cool, frightened eyes. 

Father was on his knees, the glowstick in his hand held in a grip so tight that Luke could see the strain of it even from fifty meters. His arms were pressed across his chest, and he was gasping for air. 

__

If it hit me_ that hard, losing a father I feared and avoided,_ Luke thought, _what must it have felt like to _him_, literally losing himself, and at close range?_

He glanced at Leia, who had taken a tentative step forward, then stepped back again. Her eyes told the story -- one or the other of them had put the pieces together, and she knew. She knew and couldn't come to terms with it. And that was without knowing... the rest. He wanted her there, but there was no time to convince her. He strode to their father, and knelt beside him in the sand, placing his hands as Qui-Gon had a few moments ago. 

"Let it go through you, Father," he said. "It is not happening in your now. It's a vision. A dream." 

"Not a dream," he gasped. "Can't... breathe..." 

"Try," Luke said. "Concentrate on it. Breathe in." 

Father struggled, as if he couldn't remember how to inhale, then suddenly drew in a chestful of air with a loud hiss. Luke saw some sand drawn into his mouth. 

"Now, let it out." 

The exhalation was easier. Father breathed out explosively, then his lungs resumed a normal, if thin and rapid, pattern. He might hyperventilate, but if he passed out from it, his body would take over. 

Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon had approached while Luke wasn't concentrating on them, and they began to examine Father, more, Luke thought, for the calming measure of ritual than to find out what was wrong. "Are you in pain, Ani?" Qui-Gon asked. 

Father shook his head. His breathing was normalizing. "Dead," he said. 

Obi-Wan took over. "Anakin, you've had a strange experience. Perhaps one that no one else will have." 

"Don't want it." 

"But you are not dead, not at this point in your life. You must return to the Living." 

Father was calming quickly, gaining control. "Okay." 

Qui-Gon was rubbing Father's hands quickly, getting the blood flowing again. "You're doing well, Ani. You'll do just fine." 

"Then Vader is dead?" 

They turned. 

Leia was standing behind them, her face unreadable. "Is that what... what you all felt?" 

"And what you felt," Luke said, not wanting to let her off the hook. 

She didn't argue. She looked down at Father. "If Vader was keeping my mother safe -- though I don't believe it -- then where is she now? If he is gone, where is she?" 

This sobered Father instantly. "I don't know." 

Luke searched out across the desert for his mother's presence. She was there, somewhere, but... 

Father closed his eyes, and held out the hand with the glowstick in it. And whispered, 

"Amidala." 

Luke glanced back at the Queen, but she hadn't responded at all. 

Then, a small figure crested a dune, and Luke heard the tattered remnants of an anguished cry echoing against the canyon walls. "Ani!" 

Father's eyes opened, and he ran, apparently recovering completely from not being able to breathe. "Padmé!" he called. "Padmé, we're here! We're here!" 

It must have taken a few minutes for her to approach, but to Luke it seemed instantaneous. Mother appeared on the dune, far away, then she was in the camp, and her arms were wrapped tightly around Father and she kissed his forehead. She was whispering, "You're here, you're safe, you'll be all right. I'm sorry, sorry... " The apology simply repeated itself. 

Father finally pulled away. "What are _you_ sorry for?" 

Mother looked down. "You just... died for me." 

Father smiled. "Good," he said firmly. "At least I'll do something worth doing." 

Mother looked at him, horrified. "Ani... " 

"I'll like dying for you." 

Luke didn't see it coming at all. Mother rounded her arm at Father quickly, and landed a slap across his face that resounded through the canyon. Then she burst into tears and clung to him again. 

Father looked like he had no idea what to do. Luke didn't, either. 

He looked to Leia. She was watching their parents with a mixture of wonder and terror on her face. Did she know? 

Or did she fear that she was going to be erased from existence?

------------------ 

Obi-Wan stood still, very, very still for a few minutes after Padmé had calmed down, lest someone interrupt his thoughts. __It's my fault. 

I knew something would happen, I could feel it. I should have told Master but I was too afraid he's laugh and tell me that he couldn't sense anything. That he liked Skywalker more then he did me. 

Okay, I'm an idiot. I must have brain damage from falling down the banister's as an initiate for so many years. 

After he'd berated himself enough, he walked over to Skywalker, with a suitable foolhardy and typically Obi-Wan plan. "We need to confront him. To stop him from hurting anyone else." 

"Him who?" 

"Palpatine him-who! The man who just killed your father defending your mother?" Realizing he'd just given the Jedi a major guilt trip, Obi backed up his train of thought a little. "It's my fault, you know." 

Luke laughed a little cynically. "I'm sure." 

__

It is! It is too my fault, Skywalker! He was careful to block the thought from his Master, Master had enough on his mind right now. 

"Look, B-- Obi-Wan. I'm sure you think it's your fault but you see, and my friend Han taught me about this, you have a guilt problem. You just take problems and assume it's your fault. It's not healthy, Obi-Wan. You can't change the past." 

"What are we doing now, then?" He instantly regretted his reply and made a never-mind gesture. 

"You're changing the past," Luke obviously didn't know the never-mind gesture. "Once in a millennium opportunity. Besides, you're changing the future, to then go back into the past and create an alternate future where this never happened and we never existed." 

"That makes no sense." 

"Didn't you ever watch sci-fi programs as a kid? They explained everything." Luke did seem like the type who had watched those stupid shows about people going to the outer rim while wearing bad toupees. Wait, he was getting jealous again. That was bad. 

__

Back off Obi! 

"But wait, if you change the future so we're not here at this time, who will help you get back to change the past?" Okay, apparently, Luke had never learned when to stop so other's brains didn't explode. 

"Can we just pretend we're from mirror worlds?" Such an easy theory. Of course, it was never the easier theories. Things had to be bizarre to work. 

"If we were mirror worlds, you'd all be on drugs and spice from Kessel." Luke raised an eyebrow after saying this, like he was evaluating a druggie. _Funny, Luke, very funny. _

"Look, not everything revolves around Holovids, okay? ... How's alternate 

dimensions that are almost exactly the same?" 

"Works for me," Luke's voice got tight suddenly. "You can come but I want to kill Palpatine by myself, face to face. Make sure he doesn't cheat, stop any guards, but he is mine." 

Obi blinked uncomfortably but he knew when it was time to be serious. "Fine. We might as well go now, we've already got the nervous terror down pat." After a pause, Obi continued. "Master won't let us go until after hours of plans and by that time we'll be expected. Besides, Ani needs him and right now, Ani comes first. You can block your presence, right?" 

Luke kinda flinched, obviously embarrassed. Obi-Wan tried to hold in a smirk. 

"I'm pretty bad at it... Master Yoda tried to teach me but it's really hard to learn stuff while you're standing on your head. Maybe you can help?" 

"I'll try. C'mon, we should get going. We don't have any idea where the ship is so... Besides, we can talk about bad theories and an actual working plan of action. Before they notice we're missing, okay?" 

"Sounds good."

------------------ 

Luke shrugged a little mentally as they walked along the dusty sand. He had to do this. It was his Father, someone he hadn't known but someone who had been given his automatic love. 

__

I loved him. I didn't want to but I did. 

Even if that hadn't been enough, he had heard Mother's cries of anguish. Vader had died for her and that was enough to redeem anyone in Luke's eyes. 

He might have joked around with Obi-Wan before to take his mind off things but that 

had only been that nervous tension that sets in after trauma. Some people need to be slapped, well, Luke and Obi-Wan needed to tell bad jokes and banter. 

Besides, that was just fun. 

It didn't mean they were thoughtless. Quite the opposite, Luke cared too much. He just couldn't handle that his Father was dead and that he had never gotten to help him. To even talk to him about something besides joining the Empire! 

But, what-ifs were no good for Jedi.They had way to many crises to do what-ifs at every one. That was for snobby reporters. 

The duo could sense Palpatine, it was weaker then usual, easier to pinpoint. They had been walking in that direction for a while now, they thought they were getting close. 

Thanks to Palpatine, he never would have that chance. And he wanted to make sure Palpatine could never do that to anyone else again. 

Obi-Wan's reasons for coming were much simpler. He was a Jedi, who knew what he needed to do. A semi-rebellious Jedi, Luke guessed, because he wouldn't tell his Master where they were going. Truthfully though, Luke had a very bad feeling about Master Jinn and Sith. 

Trying to distract himself from that line of thought, he focussed on what he had just learned. Obi had taught him how to shield his presence from others. Learning how to do it from Obi was a lot easier than from Yoda, who spoke backwards and insisted on him doing it in the most ridiculous situations. 

Like he was ever going to need to block his presence running while in a swamp, using his telekinsis to juggle bowls of porridge while carrying Yoda on his back? 

"Can you duel?" Luke's thoughts were jerked back to the dusty desert with Obi-Wan's question. 

"I'm okay. Plus, Palpatine isn't used to it, he uses lightning. I've read all the reports, he doesn't do his own fighting." Luke was counting on that factor, he knew he was in good shape and during that whole Jabba problem he had been forced to get very good and fast. 

Whether Palpatine knew it or now, the Emporer was at his weakest. Palpatine had just killed his right-hand man and now he had no apprentice to draw strength from. Two Jedi against the old man probably wouldn't even be fair. 

"Don't underestimate him, Skywalker." Luke blinked, just a little. 

"How--" Unfortunately, he was interrupted. Gee, this trip to Tatooine was pretty much parallel to his childhood here. 

"You need to shield your thoughts better. It's really eerie, since your Force-signature is blocked, your thoughts are coming from nowhere." He paused. "As for the other issue, I'm a Padawan, it's our mission in life to be overconfident. You're a Knight, you're supposed to be serene." 

Luke tried to bring up his shields as Obi's talked. The slightly older boy's voice seemed a little strained. _Is he -- No, he couldn't be jealous. That's stupid. He's Obi-Wan Kenobi, I'm well, me._

"I'm not quite a Knight. Master Yoda said I had a little more to do before I had to leave. And after that, everything just got a little busy." 

"You're lucky. I have, oh, another year before trials. I end up going on so many unlucky missions, it's a little hard to catch up with my studies." 

"I'm not that lucky, really......" Luke trailed off as he saw Obi stop, very suddenly. Looking up, he gulped. It was Vader's ship. And absolutely, most definitely, Palpatine was inside.

------------------ 

The scariness of the whole thing was wearing off, and Anakin was starting to feel like himself again. 

Padmé was still holding on to him, which he didn't mind -- it was better than getting slapped, anyway -- even though his shoulder was hurting a little bit from being pulled in a weird direction and he was uncomfortably warm. He squirmed to find a better place, and her arms loosened. She looked at him like she was vaguely surprised to find him there, then let go. He didn't have time to miss her before one arm found its way around his shoulders again, but this time it wasn't quite so... _weird_. Her arm was just slung around him, just like any of his buddies, and she was giving him a normal smile. He returned it. She kissed his cheek and mussed up his hair. He rolled his eyes at her, and she just shook her head. She looked embarrassed, and he caught the edge of a thought -- _(this is silly, i have to let go of the poor kid, but i can't not yet just a little longer...)_ -- that seemed to be looping around in her brain. 

__

What the heck was she talking_ to him... to me about out there?_ he wondered, but didn't ask. Instead, he asked, "Where's Luke?" 

Padmé looked up, noticed that they were alone again. She stood, reducing her touch to a hand resting lightly on top of his head. "Leia?" she called. 

The princess appeared tentatively at the edge of the light. "Yes?" 

"Where's your... where's Luke?" 

"I thought he was still with you." 

Anakin shook his head, but didn't say anything. He hadn't forgotten that Leia didn't seem to like him much, now that he said he was Vader. He really didn't think she'd like it much if he told her that Vader was her father. It would probably make her feel really bad. She didn't so much as glance at him, though, so it didn't matter. 

"He left us," Amidala said. "I appear to have been... acting outside of people's comfort zones." 

Leia nodded solemnly. "I'm sure it was upsetting. I'm... glad he saved you." 

Qui-Gon showed up behind her. "I'm sorry to interrupt, but have any of you seen Obi-Wan?" 

------------------ 

Leia's mind had been turning over the possibility of her own annihilation ever since she saw that her mother was falling in love with some strange dream she had about Anakin Skywalker. She was able to contemplate it more easily than she thought, and even wondered clinically what changes it would make in Luke, to have a different mother. Maybe we'll merge, she thought. And maybe there won't be Vader at all. But the thinking took a lot of energy, made her other thoughts fuzzy and unclear as she answered Mother's questions, and avoided looking at Anakin Skywalker. 

But her thoughts cleared immediately upon hearing Jinn's question. Of course. Luke had been with Obi-Wan. She'd seen them together, after her mother had returned. Then they hadn't been there anymore. "They're going off after Palpatine." 

"Good!" Mother said. 

"Not good," Qui-Gon corrected her. "They are both full of anger, and if he truly is Sith -- " 

"He is. Trust me." 

" -- then he will use their anger to his own advantage, and destroy them with it." 

"I'll go," Leia said. "I'll get them." 

Mother shook her head. "No. I've lost enough family tonight." 

At first, Leia didn't catch it, then it sank in. "You know? You know I'm your family?" 

"Of course I know. We'll discuss it later. When I figure it out. Right now, we need to find your brother."


	6. Chapter 6

As far as a disclaimer, you know the drill.

------------------ 

A slight armored guard hid in the shadows of the Emperor's throne room. He was a red Imperial Guard, the best the Imperials had to offer. No ego was involved in that statement, just fact. 

The guard's name was Drake Denok and he had been ordered to watch the proceedings. Not to ever make a move, just watch. That was something extremly hard for him but he had to follow orders. 

Drake really wasn't too clear on what standing still would accomplish. Unfortunately, the Emperor was a little hard to follow. Whether that was from genius or insanity, Drake didn't know. 

Slinking into the shadows even further, Drake watched as the two subjects entered, looking self-righteous and justified in their place in the galaxy. 

"You killed my Father, Palpatine." Luke Skywalker. Well known Rebel and well known by Imperials for being a brat. 

"And you brought Kenobi. Most unexpected, Skywalker. Not to say I don't like surprises, I do, very, very much." 

"Meaning..." Obi-Wan looked pointedly indifferent. 

__

He's scared. Not so much for himself but that Palpatine will kill someone close to him. His Master, perhaps? 

"I'll kill them, you know. I sent orders. My special unit was deployed to kill them a while back. My unit's very good, they were just waiting for you to leave. By now... Well, say bye bye to Mommy, will you Luke?" 

__

They won't believe that. They're JediRebels, making them smarter then the average Rebel! 

"You're lying!" Luke and Obi-Wan were in sync with that that one. It was painfully obvious to everyone in the room that they didn't believe Emperor Palpatine was lying. 

"Am I? Now, now, I could do that easily, why would I lie about it? As we speak, Kenobi's Master, Luke's parents, his sister... Everyone. They're just about to be dead by my hand," he paused. "I love being me.

"Oh, and Kenobi, since I know you're wondering, you can't warn Qui-Gon because I cut off all your mental communications. A Sith trade secret, you know." 

Again, in sync, the duo raised their lightsabers and charged forward. The Jedi were greeted by short bursts of lightning from Palpatine. The not-very-well-thought-out pattern was repeated three times. 

He supposed they were grief-stricken, for no actual reason all at all. They didn't know that though and Drake wasn't going to tell them that and then get himself killed. That would just be stupid. 

"I swear by the Force, I will kill you for even trying to hurt them." The comment was spoken softly by Obi-Wan and no one seemed to be expecting an attack after it. 

That was right when he threw his 'saber straight at the Emperor. 

With the darkside helping though, the lightsaber swerved right back into Luke's leg. 

__

Ouch. Ouch, ouch, ouch. 

Luke crumbled, and tried to softly pull it out to no avail. "Aaah! No! This smegging hurts! Sith!" 

Finally Luke just yanked it and the blood stopped after a full five minutes of Obi-Wan apologizing frantically and the Emperor laughing extremely hard. 

"Poor, poor, Skywalker. And, soon, you'll have no Mommy to kiss it better." 

__

The Emperor really needs to learn some better taunts then that. 

Luke sat there seething while Obi-Wan looked like he was about to explode. 

The stares the Jedi were sending the Emperor's way made Drake shudder. It reminded him of how that man with the tattoos had looked, the one who had called himself the..... apprentice! 

By the Force.... The whole point of this was for the Emporer to get himself some Sith trainees! No!

------------------ 

Han focused his eyes on a tiny chip in the naviputer, willing the last of the cloudy vision away. The miniscule circuits began to show themselves as shadows, then finally swam up into clarity. 

__

Okay, still sick, but sick and seeing is better than sick and blind, especially if you're going to get the Falcon_ off the ground._

And that, he figured, was what he'd have to do. 

He hadn't been worried at first. They'd been gone awhile, but hell, they'd been on Tatooine for months. Luke had lived here. They knew their way around. He'd gotten cleaned up, changed his clothes... then, there'd been a brief, intercepted message. 

Vader was here. All he could think of was Leia. She had risked everything to save him, now, here he was, safe on a ship, while she was in worse danger than Jabba could even think of putting either one of them in. Lando was probably right -- there wasn't a lot he could do in his present condition -- but when he'd come to, his head aching more than before and the bleary vision back with a vengeance, he'd thought, _The double-crossing son-of-a-Hutt did it again._

He'd come to his senses quickly enough -- Chewie had gone with Lando, and that was enough to convince Han that Lando wasn't doing anything sneaky -- but he was left with a gnawing guilt for still being here. He thought of following them, but realized that would just end up being more trouble: someone else would have to find him when it was time to go. Better if he stuck around to be the finder. 

So he powered up the _Falcon_, making her ready to go in a flash, and started running scans to find their commlinks. 

The Queen's party was easy to find -- the old style signals were the only ones of their kind -- but they were scattered in clumps around a five-kilometer radius. Chewie was with them. Han signaled him, and was gratified to get an immediate, if subdued, reply. 

"Chewie, who you got with you?" 

Chewie paused -- it was hard to give names in Wookiee -- then finally avoided the names altogether by saying it was the pilot and the security officer. 

"Yeah, well, tell Panaka to start calling in his troops. If we need to make a quick getaway, it's going to be hard to catch them like this." 

A voice said, "Excuse me, may I?" and Chewie barked away from the microphone. A minute later, Panaka came on. "Captain Solo, our ship is undoubtedly under surveillance. We thought it wise to stay away from it." 

Han guessed that made sense. He checked the locations of the other comm-links. 

"Look, Lando and one of your people are coming toward the three of you. Go do a check on your ship. See if you can get to it. I can probably get people off on the _Falcon_, if it's an emergency, but you're going to need that ship if you're planning on going home anyway. Keep a lock on this signal." 

"I read you," Panaka said. "I don't think any of our people has found anything anyway." 

Han didn't bother to ask what they thought they were looking for. "Just keep it together," he said. "Be ready to make a run for it." 

"All right. Panaka out." 

The communication was cut curtly -- he was old style military -- but Han had already occupied himself with programming in a launch. 

------------------ 

Sabé couldn't remember exactly how the party at the canyon had split up; she only knew that Obi-Wan and Ani's son had disappeared, then somehow or other, she was running with Calrissian again, back toward the ships, while the Queen went off with Leia, Ani, and Qui-Gon. She had a vague memory of Amidala looking straight at Lando and saying, "Get the Queen to safety" before running off. Lando had accepted no arguments on the matter. Hadn't he _heard_ Ani call the Queen by her right name? 

What game were they playing? 

But it had happened too fast, and it would have made matters worse if Sabé had taken time to argue. She would get back to the ship, and get the whole crew to go in and rescue Amidala. And Ani and Qui-Gon and Leia. 

And Obi-Wan and Luke. 

__

Are Lando and I the only ones running here? 

But of course, they were. He was saving the Queen by taking her away from the battle. 

They'd made it partway around the city, and were headed into the open desert, homing in on Panaka's signal. Sabé's comm-link beeped. She didn't stop to answer it, though running through the desert was hard on her lungs. She brought it close to her 

mouth so that the wind wouldn't interfere. "Yes?" 

"We're one hundred yards to your left, behind the rock shelf," Panaka said, and cut it off after that. Bless the man, he never did waste words. 

"Come on," Sabé said, tugging on Lando's arm and pulling him after her. "We're stopping here. To regroup." 

He agreed readily enough, and they swerved behind the rock. 

Panaka and Olie were waiting, with the Wookiee who traveled with Ani's son. Panaka caught her, and sat her down on a low rock. "Rest," he ordered. "You're not going to be helpful if your heart explodes." 

Sabé nodded. "The plan?" 

"We're going to take the ship back first. Then we need to know where the remainder of the party is. We've been unable to locate them by their comm-links." 

Sabé nodded. "Kenobi and Jinn were captured," she said. "Along with Leia and Luke and Ani, though he doesn't have a comm-link for you to have traced. They have escaped, but their equipment was taken from them upon capture, including the comm-links." 

"And the... your handmaiden Padmé?" 

"Was separated from them before the capture, but is now reunited. They have headed into greater danger, I fear." 

Panaka swore under his breath. They had always anticipated that Amidala was headstrong enough to take matters into her own hands; they had never guessed that this would lead her into a battle -- it wasn't her style. But they should have known. 

There was a downside to allowing her to escape into Padmé's identity. It took the target off of her, but she was perfectly capable of putting herself in danger without it. _And I should have known. She has always felt guilty that we handmaidens take the physical risks. I should have known she would insist, if the time actually came._

"She knows better," Panaka said. "Her life is not her own to risk." 

"She's doing it for Anakin," Lando said suddenly. "Something happened -- I don't know what, exactly; something about _his_ now -- and she's hell-bent on sticking with him."

"_His_ now?" Panaka was seething, and pounded a fist against his palm. "What the _hell_ does that mean?" 

"Some Jedi doublespeak," Lando muttered, disdainfully. 

Panaka raised an eyebrow, and turned his gaze to Sabé. "What happened?" 

"Anakin collapsed," she replied, easing into her act. "Jinn, Kenobi, and Luke coached him into breathing mainly through comfort." 

"Why would that send Padmé into the hands of the enemy?" 

"I'm unsure, Captain, but I believe she said that Anakin's older incarnation died to save her. From what the Jedi said, Anakin collapsed because he felt his own passing into the Force." 

Lando's face became contorted with disbelief, and his speech came to him slowly. "No ... Leia said that _Vader_ was dead." 

Before this particular mission, Sabé had a history of making connections where they should not be made. While she was a flawless bodyguard, agile and deadly, she was no detective. She felt Panaka's critical eye scanning her, and felt a history of trust being dismissed because someone decades her senior had spoken against her. 

She couldn't hold back. "The boy _knew_, Captain. Our most guarded secret. He said her name and suddenly we hear her calling for him. He must have guided her in some way, and the only explanation I can think of is that the child becomes a Jedi and dies for her. That may mean he becomes this Vader for whom Leia and Lando have such distaste." 

------------------ 

Dritali led the way, though Kit didn't know how she knew any of this. Maybe she was a little bit Force sensitive. Or maybe she'd followed. He just wasn't sure. 

Vertash and Kerea were with them, looking fearfully over their shoulders at every night sound. Kerea was holding Vertash's arm. Dritali seemed entirely unconcerned with the presence of the Empire, or of the normal desert dangers. She simply pushed forward, toward the flatlands where Kit could see the boxy shapes of two Imperial transports squatting like predators ready to pounce. 

"This way," she said urgently. She led them toward the smaller transport, but Kit saw what she was headed for long before they got to it. She ran ahead when she saw a sniffing womp rat, charging the creature and kicking at its face. It snapped at her foot, but womp rats were skittish, and when it saw that she wasn't alone, it scurried off into the night. 

Anakin lay in the sand, mask turned up toward the sky. Some cataclysmic heat had melted the circuits on his chest, and his hands were clenched in final agony. Beside him in the sand, something glittered. Kit bent down to pick it up. 

Just a glass bauble, cheap and meant to look it. It had been set into Amidala's belt. She had been there. Kit understood what had happened without needing to be telepathic in the least. 

"What should we do?" Dritali asked. 

"We'll take him home," Kit said. "I'll need your help, children. Kerea, I know you have... " 

But the Alderaanian girl slipped in beside Vertash and Dritali, and shook her head. Her short blond hair seemed almost white in the moonlight. She would not leave any man to be devoured by the desert beasts, no matter what side of the war he'd fought on. 

Kit knelt beside him, partly in respectful mourning, but mostly to gauge how to accomplish this task. Finally, he looped his own arms under Anakin's, lifting him slightly. The robotics of the suit had gone stiff, which would make him hard to lift, but easier to carry once they had him. "You children are certain of this?" he asked. 

They nodded solemnly. 

"Very well," he said. "Dritali, you walk beside him, in the middle, and support him in the center of his back. Vertash and Kerea, hold his legs. It will be a long, difficult walk, but it is a kind and merciful thing you are doing." 

Vertash smiled slightly. Kerea's shoulders straightened. Dritali didn't react, but the gift was mainly to her, and Kit knew she would be grateful later. If Kit had one point of pride, it was that the children he'd raised considered being kind and merciful a mark of honor. 

The walk was long and difficult, but in the end, they brought Anakin Skywalker safely into Sanctuary, and laid his broken body in the garden. Kit and Dritali stayed to keep vigil until sunsup. 

--------------- 

Qui-Gon was striding on ahead, following some scent in the Force that Amidala couldn't begin to understand. But he was going the right way, so it had to count for something. Of course, Palpatine was still fairly close to where they'd been held before, so that might have played into it. 

She was afraid that they would pass poor Ani's body, but it was on the other side of the ships, she remembered now (getting out had been a strange and surreal experience, and she remembered little of it). It was, at any rate, mercifully out of sight. 

Leia walked beside her quietly, sometimes glancing over at Ani, mostly keeping to herself. The pace was quick, and it wouldn't be easy to talk even about simple things, let alone the complicated tangle in the weave of their lives. Amidala touched her arm lightly. 

Leia gave her a distracted look, then sped up her pace and ran ahead to catch Qui-Gon. 

Ani squeezed her hand -- had she taken his hand, or had he taken hers? she couldn't remember -- and when she looked at him, his eyes were bruised looking and sunken. Not so very different from the way they'd looked under the mask. He pulled his hand away and stared ahead as they walked. His pace was quickening. Amidala had a sense that she'd done this before, then she realized that she had, not more than two hours ago. This time, though, his legs were too short to make her work as hard as she had then. She matched him easily. 

"Up there?" he asked, when Palpatine's small, boxy transport came into view. "That's where they are?" 

An arc of light sparked up through the night air, answering his question before she did. "What is that?" she asked. 

Ani started to run. "He's got Luke and Obi-Wan!" 

"Ani! Wait!" 

"I'm going after them!" 

"NO!" It was out before Amidala really thought about it, but she meant it. She didn't want Anakin Skywalker anywhere near Palpatine. Not now, not ever. She ran, overtaking him and grabbing him to one side. "Let Qui-Gon and Leia go. I need your help. He has my handmaidens... the queen's other handmaidens, Rabé and Eirtaé, and Jar Jar. We need to get them out and get them back to our time." 

"But Luke -- " 

"Has Obi-Wan, Qui-Gon, and Leia to help him. The others need us more. Palpatine will be distracted by this confrontation. Maybe his guards will be less attentive than they otherwise would be. Or maybe not. Either way, we need to get them out. They can't stay here, and they can't die here." 

Anakin looked from the electric sky to the darkness of the ship, his face showing his torn heart clearly. "Luke," he said again. "And Leia, too, now." 

Amidala nodded. She knew. Every fiber of her being wanted to go in and save Luke, 

and keep Leia out of the fight at all. But she knew there was little she could do in a fight between Jedi and Sith, and the need to rescue Jar Jar and her handmaidens had not been a ruse; they really could not be left here, and everyone else was so focused on the battle with Palpatine that it left only Ani and herself to do it. "They're strong," she said. "Let's show them where it comes from, okay?" 

The words sounded false, and she heard her voice shake, but something in what she'd said seemed to reach Anakin. Of course. He was ashamed enough of what he'd learned that he claimed to be glad to die. He _would_ be glad of a chance to prove himself worthy in the twins' eyes. 

"Okay," he said. "What's the plan?"

Amidala brushed her hair back, trying to think her plan out as she spoke. "There aren't very many guards. I expect no more then two, if that. This really isn't that big of a ship, Ani." 

"How do we stop them?" Ani's voice sounded very brave, too brave for his age. 

__

I wish he didn't have to act so old. It would be nice for him if he could just be a child. 

Throwing away her wistful thought, she sighed faintly. Ami knew she couldn't control how other's acted or the circumstances that lead to actions. All she could do was make sure she did all she could. 

And right now she was going to do all she could to save her handmaidens. 

Amidala held up a hand to make sure Ani stayed silent and tried to think. Her mind was mentally exhausted and she felt too tired to be creative. 

"I don't suppose you have any ideas Ani?" 

"This is my first time doing something like this." Ani did a smirk, something unnerving to see on a nine-year-old. _Must have come from hanging around with so many spacers._

"Cute." Ami reached out and squeezed his hand to show she wasn't being mean. She let go after a little while, focusing on the problem at hand. 

After a few seconds, she was able to think up a workable plan, using various ideas from the stories her Grandmother had told her. 

Who knew those stories would have real life use? 

"Ani, you are going to distract a guard. Make sure no one's around, just make the guard angry. I'll come up from behind and hit with something handy. We take his blaster and stun the other's." 

"You make that sound easy, Padmé." Ani grinned brightly, the expression lighting up his face. "Now come on, we hafta go save them." 

Walking into the ship, Amidala wished she was so confident about her plan. 

------------------ 

Luke seethed inwardly at the Emperor, cradling his injured leg. He should have listened to Obi-Wan, he had been overconfident. 

An inner voice breathed out, _You weren't overconfident. You were ready. If it hadn't been to Obi-Wan's warning, you would have gone in their, lightsaber charging and won. Now look at you, on the floor with a leg injury that might never heal. It's all Kenobi's fault._

The Emperor had left soon after the leg injury, telling them he'd be back later. Kenobi had walked to the other side of the room a little while after mumbling apologies. 

What good was an apology when he was a cripple? How would that help him become a full Jedi? How would he fix his father's mistakes now? 

So caught up in his thoughts, Luke's brain didn't register the Emporer walking in and chuckling softly. Luckily for him, Obi-Wan did notice and promptly attacked the Emperor who was uncharacteristically holding a lightsaber. 

"It's all--" Parry. "Your--" Thrust. "Fault!" Jump. 

"Have I mentioned lately how much I adore anger from Jedi?" He laughed, and Luke's voice urged him to do something. Blasting Palpatine to smithereens was a nicer thought that came. 

Unable to stand, (Luke winced at the bad joke) sitting any longer, he stood up slowly, using every Jedi pain technique he knew of. 

The result was the leg didn't hurt but it was extremly numb. It gave him the feeling it was be extremly painful later to make up for it. 

Luke stretched and spoke, smiling sinisterly. "We're going to kill you. As slowly as we can." 

__

After all, I can always hurt Kenobi for injuring my leg after Palpy is dead. 

As Kenobi and Luke both edged towards Palpatine, the Emperor's perverse grin faded.

------------------ 

Palpatine backed up nervously, waving his lightsaber a little. _It was no supposed to go like this! They were supposed to fight each other. By the Force, where did my plan go wrong?_

"You killed my father. Prepare to die." Luke's voice was deadly serious and Palpatine searched for something intelligant to say. 

"It's all my bodyguard's fault!" he pointed over to the corner, gasping a little. "See that man? Drake, an Imperial Royal Guard. All his idea, I just went along for fun." 

The guard eerily stepped out of the shadows, azure eyes flashing. "I'm afraid I can't take the credit for your brilliance my Emperor. It wouldn't be right." 

Luke snorted. "Yeah, I'm going to believe that one, Palpy. A hyped-up stormtrooper thought it all up. Sure." 

"With what I've heard and seen about stormtroopers, I must agree that they're idiots." Obi-Wan grinned and for some reason the exression just looked wrong on his face. It looked innocent, on an wicked face. 

Unfortunately, the Jedi were right. Stormtroopers were perpetually stupid. Drake wasn't all stupid though, he just didn't apply himself. At all. Besides, the royal guard just looked ditzy with classic good looks and a small frame. 

"Yeah, I guess most are kinda--Hey!" As Luke and Obi-Wan looked, then quickly looked away from the "stupid" Royal Guard, emabrassed. As soon as they were focused on Palpatine, Drake smirked. 

__

It's possible I slightly erred in getting one of my Royal Guards angry at me. 

As a last ditch maneuver, Palpatine took out a powerless comm and spoke into it. "Strike at the targets. Yes, you can kill everyone, even the Jedi Master." 

Palpatine changed his earlier thought to: **Many, many mistakes that must have been from Maul and\or Vader brainwashing me** as Drake drew a blaster and spoke softly. "I could forgive you killing my Grandfather when you extinguished Jedi. I could forgive you destroying Alderaan and with it, my fiancée because there were Rebels there. 

"I can put up with your lies. But I can't put up with you killing Queen Amidala.

"I am of Naboo, and we of Naboo stick together." 

With that, Palpatine was stunned. 

As he fell, his second to last thought was, _At least Skywalker and Obi-Wan are showing Sith tendencies._

His last thought was, __Did they have to do it at the expense of stunning me?

------------------ 

Leia followed Qui-Gon, not really knowing what she meant to do, only that she couldn't handle being in Anakin Skywalker's presence. 

Her father's presence. 

A thousand thoughts raced each other through her mind in narrowing circles, nipping at each others heels and making so much noise that she could hardly concentrate. 

And yet, she felt oddly detached from it. _Luke is my brother. My brother. Did I know that before?_

__

(Yeah, sure, you knew it when you were kissing him on Hoth. And leading him on on Yavin. It was all right there, and you were just playing with him, right? Normal family games. But then again, with Daddy dearest hovering nearby, how could anything but blissful normalcy ensue?) 

She tried to maintain the sarcastic tone with herself, but it wouldn't wash. The fact was, when Mother had called Luke her brother, there hadn't been even a moment of doubt or even surprise. And learning about Vader had been... 

__

Expected. 

As she pushed her way through the sand, her stomach turned lazily. Of course. She had never once asked her foster parents who her father was. That should have struck her as strange, because she asked about everything she saw or felt. But the question of half of her existence never came up. 

Why? 

Because she had a suspicion, or a whisper of an idea of a suspicion. And to ask it would be to acknowledge it, and to acknowledge it would be terrible. Unbearable. 

Was she giving herself too much credit? Maybe she just plain hadn't been interested. 

No. No, she felt the truth of it sinking in. That connection she had felt... it had been real, and she had _known_; she'd known it in her blood even if her mind had never put a word to it. She hadn't needed to ask. 

Qui-Gon stopped suddenly. "They have engaged in battle," he said. 

Leia nodded. "I'll go in. You can't risk the timeline by dying now. And I'll try to get Obi-Wan out first." 

He shook his head. "There is something else here. Something unexpected." 

"I've had enough unexpected things today," Leia said. She had no patience left for Qui-Gon's philosophy; she would take matters into her own hands, because her own hands were under her control. She moved on ahead of him, toward the storm-lit part of the sky. 

He matched her step for step, and didn't try to stop her. 

She drew her blaster as she entered the small circle, but found there was nothing to do with it. 

One of the Emperor's royal guard was standing over a small, supine form in black robes. Luke and Kenobi stood with their lightsabers drawn, looking mutely at it. 

"Very well," Qui-Gon said. "It seems your foolishness has corrected itself, padawan." 

Obi-Wan glared at him, but lowered his lightsaber. "Yes, Master." 

"And you, young Luke, must be aware of your error." 

Luke lowered his lightsaber, but didn't say anything. 

"He's moving," the guard said. "If you're leaving, leave now." 

Leia shook her head. She hadn't registered that the guard was on their side. "Are you coming with us?" 

"I will remain at my post." 

It was a spoken suicide note, but Leia was too tired to argue. "May the Force be with you," she muttered. 

"If he's not dead yet," Luke said, "I'll kill him." 

"No, you won't," Leia said. "Because we have to get our parents, and then get them back in time, or you and I won't be here to kill anybody or anything."

------------------ 

Obi-Wan shuddered from the sudden desert wind. They had been walking a while, he wasn't sure how long, his chrono had long since been broken. The young Padawan seemed to be the only one to notice. 

It was quite possibly as much in his head as the thought that Palpatine was going to kill Qui-Gon was. 

Palpatine. The man had lied, told him Qui-Gon was going to die, sent him awful mental messages of all the Jedi Masters burning, his friends dying screaming out Vader, everything. Obi-Wan had tried to block it out, keep his mind separate from the Emperor's. He hadn't had the power. 

When Palpatine had been stunned, it had just gone away. Leaving Obi not quite as cold, or alone or unhappy... But the memories and the anger had remained. 

__

I don't want to be this angry. By the Force, I want to be who I was before any of this mess started! 

"Padawan? Padawan? Are you okay?" 

It was Master Qui-Gon. He was worried. "I'm fine. Just...memories, Master." 

"It's okay, Obi-Wan. I will understand if you'll be a little distant for a while." Qui-Gon grasped his hand gently but within a second it was dropped. "Now please, walk faster. We are trying to get back to the ship, Amidala and Anakin are following as soon as they finish that mission." 

"Mission? What mission? You let my parents go off alone? They're just children!" Luke just stopped and with him the rest of the group halted their steady pace. The young man's face held a mixture of anger and contempt for Qui-Gon. 

"I'm sure they wanted to Luke. Some people have a sense of duty." Obi-Wan smiled sweetly at Luke, enjoying the pain on his face for a brief second. 

"What are you saying?" Luke's stare was burning, Obi-Wan could almost feel the holes 

in his skin. 

"Yes, what are you saying? Luke may be many things but he has a sense of duty." 

"Stay out of this sister dear. Go away." Luke paused, hurt appearing on his face. 

"Maybe then I won't be able to hear your thoughts about how Vader and I being your family disgusts you. How we're full of anger, and are stuck that way." 

Obi-Wan cringed. His own shields were up but he had been told it was very hard to block family. For Luke to have to hear Leia's venting thoughts would have been awful. 

Leia walked tentatively over to Luke and put her arms around him, bring very careful to avoid bumping into his leg. "I'm so, so, sorry Luke. I didn't want you to hear that, I didn't mean it. I swear, I didn't mean it! 

Please Luke, don't turn like Vader because of my thoughts! You're my brother, I don't want you to be my fault too! I can't let that happen with you, Luke. Please, just let go of the anger." 

Leia's wails were getting a bit high-pitched and Obi-Wan looked away. He could still hear the please though but after a while, the sobs quieted. 

For a while after Luke was murmuring, "It's okay Leia... It's my fault, it wasn't yours… Nothing's your fault, I shouldn't have gotten so mad. It's my fault, I need some help, I..." 

The young man straightened, visibly winced and looking over Leia's shoulder softly talked. "I need to go see Master Yoda. I... I need some help controlling my temper. I don't want to turn out like my Father." He stopped uncomfortably. "Come on, we need to get a ship." 

With that, Leia slipped out of Luke's arms and started following the young Jedi, Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon not far behind.

------------------ 

"Okay," Padmé whispered to him. "You go and... do something... " 

"I was thinking," Anakin said, "that maybe you should be the one to go up. You were with... me... earlier, and I was their boss, right?" 

She sighed. "Yes, but I'm afraid that word may have gotten around about just what happened. They may be under orders to arrest me on sight." She didn't say it, but Anakin heard, very clearly, _Or shoot me._

He felt his heart seize up. He could have gotten her killed, if she'd done what he said. "Okay. I'll do it." He bent down, found a rock about the size of his hand. "Here. Just do it quick." 

She nodded. "May the Force be with you, Ani." 

"You, too." They split. He saw her fade gracefully into the shadow of the ship. She was so _pretty_. He closed his eyes and thought of her face, then opened them and headed for the white-helmeted guard. 

"Stop!" 

Anakin stopped and squinted. "Hey!" he said, trying to sound like he didn't know what was going on. "I saw your lights from town. Is this really an Imperial war ship?" 

"Not a war ship. It's just a transport." 

"I heard the Emperor was on it. It's a rumor all over Mos Espa." 

The guard cocked his head curiously. "I can't speak to that." 

Anakin faked a pleased smile. "Wow, then, it's really true!" 

"I didn't say that -- " 

"Kitster and Wald are going to be really jealous if they find out that I saw the Emperor's ship -- " 

__

Crack. 

The guard fell to the ground, revealing Padmé standing behind him, the rock in her hand. She looked at it dully. "I was afraid the helmet would stop it." 

"They don't seem to be good for much." 

"Come on. Before he wakes up, or someone else comes." 

He nodded, and led the way into the ship. Just like before, the halls seemed familiar, or at least perfectly sensible. "They'll be near the back," he said. 

"How do you know that? Can you hear...?" She looked around nervously. 

"No. Can you?" 

"I did. When I first ran. But not now. I thought maybe he was... you know, talking to you instead." 

"How come?" 

"Because when I was running... well, maybe it's crazy, but I thought you said... I thought you called me 'Amidala.'" 

"Why would I do that?" 

"Because it's my name. You'll know it by the time you're... _him_." 

"You're the queen?" 

She nodded, distracted. "Rabé and Eirtaé might not be in very good shape. They may say something by accident. But don't tell the others. My bodyguard is -- " 

They reached a blocked doorway, and Anakin held up his hand, only noticing partway through that it was silly for him to be telling a queen what to do. "Through here," he said. There was a button beside the door, and he pushed it. "You stay here," he said. "Really. I bet this door doesn't open up easy from the other side. Be really careful." 

She nodded, and he went into the cell block. He was scared, but he didn't feel like stopping. Another door was closed near the end of the corridor, and he opened it. 

"Ani!" Jar Jar said. "Mesa glad to be seeing you! Deysa hurting bad." He pointed to two forms slumped in the corner. "Wesa wasn't all together before, but den da men with guns bring them in here, saying wesa was gonna die together here." 

"Well, you're not," Anakin said. He held his finger against the button and reached in. He was able to touch one of the girls. She looked up, and her face was covered with bruises. "It's time to leave," he said. "I have to hold the door. But I'll help you when you come out." 

The girl nodded, and crawled out. She used Anakin's body to climb up to a half-standing position, and he braced her with his arm. 

Jar Jar gathered up the other one, and picked her up. "Wesa going now." 

Anakin and Jar Jar made their way up the corridor, where Padmé was waiting, her hand on the button by the door, her face a mask of worry. 

The girl leaning on Anakin reached to her. "Highness," she whispered. 

Padmé -- Amidala -- reached out and took over supporting her. "It's all right, Rabé," she said. "We're leaving now." 

Anakin led them out of the ship by the back way -- just in case the guard had woken up -- and into the desert night outside. He helped Padmé support the girl Rabé, and they made their way into the open desert.

------------------ 

Threepio nudged his companion, making the droid look at him. 

"Have you figured out yet why we're locked in the closet?" 

Artoo beeped out a short answer, one that made the prissy droid gasp. "What do you mean it was my telling the guard that he should diet? I was looking out for his best instrests! And, as for the assistant pilot, there are techniques that help hair loss." 

Artoo extended his arm and banged Threepio's arm. 

__

How rude. 

"Well, I don't care what you say, it isn't my fault we're stuck in the closet." 

With that said, Threepio crossed his arms and continued yelling for people to let him out. Artoo switched into a hibernation mode, wishing he'd traded places with himself when he'd had the chance. 

------------------ 

Lando shrugged as he tuned out Han's plan. Han had landed not long after Amidala's cryptic announcement of Anakin knowing "something". 

The old smuggler had promptly demanded that Lando to get in the ship, they had something to do. Amidala had insisted, saying, "If it involves my friends, it involves me." 

After a few minutes Han just let her on, mumbling things about royalty who talked too much. They were currently trying to find Leia because Han thought that she would know something. 

Or something like that, Lando was too busy watching Han fly to listen. There was no way he was letting a formerly blind man fly without supervision. 

Deciding to tune back into the conversation, Lando realized with a start that Han and the Queen were in a debate. 

"It won't work." Amidala paused. "You need a better plan." 

"Look Queenly, you're a kid. What do you know about grown-up things like these?" 

__

Bad move, old buddy. 

"More then you. Besides, what have you done with your life, little smuggler, that's so grown-up? Hiding from the law and delivering spice strikes me as a bit immature. And don't even deny it, this is a smuggler's ship." Amidala crossed her arms in a smug 'I'm better then you' fashion. 

Was that a move that just came inherent to royalty? Or was there a class, 'How To Behave Like You're Better Then Everyone 101'. 

Or maybe, 'Looks and Phrases That Will Get You Your Way Everytime'. 

"Listen, I'm not a smuggler any more--" Han was interrupted before he could even begin to deny Amidala's claims. 

"One, I don't believe you. Two, pretend that I did believe you, why would it matter? You still did the crime. See, no one said you were part of the Rebellion, so I'm guessing you quit when it got too tough but decided to use your old connections to your advantage. Seems like a Smuggler thing to do." The Queen's voice was angry and her face was blowing a little of her cool. 

Lando grinned a little absently as he noticed that the two's body language screamed out, 'I'm extremly pissed, so watch out'. This was getting good. 

"You don't know anything about me or my situation so just back off." Han's voice wasn't at his strongest but with all he'd been through in the last few days, Lando didn't fault him. 

"Neither do you with mine. It isn't fun to be stereotyped, is it?" Amidala's voice had serenity again and the face had slacked to normal. It was eerie, the sudden change really reminded him of one of his contacts. A woman about five years older then him named Sabé. 

Sabé had a thing for masks. Not real ones, figurative. She needed to keep people away for some reason, so she would just kide all her feelings under one. Pretend to be having fun, pretend to hate you, whatever it was, it was fake. No one saw the real Sabé. 

Lando crinkled his brow. Now that he thought about it, Sabé was from Naboo. Also, her voice sounded remarkably similar to that of Amidala's. With a slightly more bitter twinge to it but that wasn't uncommon these days. 

They seemed to be around the same height too, Lando knew that from his flirtings with Sabé. All in fun, of course. 

It all added up. And what it added up to didn't make a mathematical equation. No, it added up to some bizarre TV plot. 

Without thinking, Lando just blurted out his thoughts, quite uncharacteristically. 

"Sabé?!"

------------------ 

Sabé glared at Calrissian. How far had she fallen in the world, if she was associating with someone foolish enough to -- 

He grinned. 

Her glare had confirmed his suspicion. She chastised herself mentally, but not for long. She didn't intend to stay here one more minute. She drew herself up into Amidala's most regal stance. "Baron Calrissian, whatever conclusion you believe you've reached, I assure you, I have the full power of the throne of Naboo behind me." 

"Oh, I don't doubt it." He shook his head. "I should have known you right off. So where's the real queen?" 

"Real queen?" Han Solo asked. "Wait a minute..." 

"In all likelihood, heading from one danger into another, trying to return to a ship which, in case you have forgotten, is still not functional." 

Lando's smile faltered. "Damn. I _did_ forget. They got captured before that miserable old Toydarian delivered the parts." 

Han threw his hands in the air. "Great. I know where he's got 'em, but the Empire's 

going to be combing the sand for anyone who was in there before." 

Sabé sighed. "Baron Calrissian and I weren't in there before." 

"Yeah. Sure. You tell us where the stuff is, we'll get in and out without making much of a fuss, and I'll con old flapwings into giving me the parts." 

Han briefly gave them directions to Watto's shop, and told them precisely where the parts were located, so that Watto wouldn't be able to claim they weren't around. 

Then he glanced at Sabé. 

"Your highness, or whoever you are, that's not the most inconspicuous thing you could show up in." 

Sabé glanced down at herself. The Queen's battle gear really was... conspicuous. 

"Very well," she said. "Lando, I note that you're wearing a Hutt guard's uniform. Is there another available? Perhaps for -- " she blanked on the name for a moment " -- for Leia to wear? I believe we're roughly the same size." 

Han shook his head. "Leia snuck in a different way. And she was captured. I don't know what happened to the bounty hunter costume." 

"It's probably at Jabba's," Lando said. "But don't you still have that tin contraption he put her in?" 

Sabé groaned, remembering it from her brief glimpse of Leia earlier. But it made sense... she wouldn't be inconspicuous, but she _would_ look like she belonged in the company of one of Jabba's guards. 

Lando shook his head. "I really am sorry, Sabé. I know it's not your style." 

"Oh, all right," she said. "Don't get sentimental." 

She reached over to where Han was handing her a small box, and took it from him. It shifted, and she could hear the dancing girl's costume clinking inside. She shook her head, and went into a small room to change. 

"'I know it's not your style,'" she muttered, pulling it on. Who did he think he was, and how did he know her? The uncouth, overdressed... 

She stopped, and rolled her eyes. 

Of course he knew her. She'd spend the next few years thinking of a hundred poisonous things to say to him, and she knew herself well enough to know that she wouldn't miss an opportunity to say them. 

She'd already changed Calrissian's world. 

She didn't let the magnitude of the idea hit her too hard; after all, you couldn't very well walk through a world without changing someone's life, could you?

------------------ 

Lando blinked a little as Sabé came back into the cockpit. _Wow. Too bad she's not a little older._

Shrugging off that thought, he still had to admit Sabé looked good. But, if she was anything like the Sabé he knew, she wouldn't take kindly to staring. Still... "Nice clothes." 

"From a man with your fashion skills, I consider that a compliment." Sabé smiled sweetly as Han snickered. 

Some old friend he was! 

The ship came down with a jerk and Han pressed the button to release the doors. Sabé looked a little annoyed with the rough landing but she had enough sense to realize that Han's eyesight still wasn't 100%. 

"Okay, we're as far as I'll go. 'Bout a ten minute walk if ya walk fast. You remember the directions, Lando?" Han's voice still had a trace of laughter in it. 

Lando's eyes narrowed a little. "Yeah. I have a good memory for details," he brought his voice down a little. "I still remember how much you cheated me out of when you won the Falcon." 

"Vent another time Lando. Look, as soon as you get to the transport, I'm expecting a call." Han was worried. About who, Lando wasn't certain but he was placing bets on Leia. 

With a nod, Sabé and Lando left, throwing semi-subtle insults at the other for the first couple minutes. 

"Nice hair style. Really, I didn't know that you knew what slave-girls did with their hair." 

"And how would you know? Wait, let me guess, you were guarding the slave-girls at Jabba's." 

Lando suddenly decided it would be safer if they started to plan. "So, what do we do?" 

"Is it my job to think of everything?" Sabé rolled her eyes and gave a look that just radiated exasperation. Or it would have if she hadn't been in an outfit that was enough to make a Courscant school girl blush. 

It was certainly making every other male on the street stop and stare. 

"Well, what is a Pseudo-Queen's job?" He really wanted to hear the story on that. Later, when this stupid mission was over, Lando wanted to hear about it. 

"To protect the Queen," she sighed. "I suppose we should just go in and tell him the parts are ours." 

Lando raised an eyebrow uncomfortably. "Slave-girls don't really talk... Just stand and look pretty. We should just go in, say the ship is ours, Jabba's death probably isn't out yet and take it." 

"Fine with me." The walked in silence until they came upon Watto's shop. The slimy little whatever the hell he was, was grinning. 

"What can I do for you, good sir?" 

"We need the parts for the Nubian fighter. You know what parts, I believe." 

Watto's grin turned into an uncomfortable smile. "I don't know what you're talking about." 

Lando took out his blaster and grinned. "Really?" 

__

You betrayed my friends, you're messing with me. And anyone who has ever made that mistake will warn you not to mess with Lando Calrissian. 

Watto flew over to some shelves and very slowly handed over the missing parts. Sabé grabbed them, glaring at Watto fiercely enough to kill. 

"What does Jabba wants with these?" 

Yeah, he was stupid enough to tell him that and have whatever answer he gave be all over the town by nightfall. 

"You'll get what you deserve someday, Watto." Sabé smirked, giving her face a sinister feel. With that said, Lando and Sabé exited. _I guess Jabba's death hasn't gotten around after all... That's good, that can probably be used._

Sabé turned to Lando, seemingly oblivious to all the stares she was getting. "So, what do you think the next step is?" 

Lando was quiet for a few minutes, as he tried to think of something. "Fixing your ship. After that, let's leave the problem to the Jedi. They always have a plan, right?" 

Lando was a little uncertain about that but it was a better idea then anything else he had come with. 

"Right."


	7. Chapter 7

As far as a disclaimer, you know the drill.

------------------ 

Leia watched as everything just seemed to unfold. It seemed that all she could do was watch. 

It wasn't a very pleasant feeling. 

"So, where are we going?" Obi-Wan's voice was carefully controlled, he probably didn't want to set Luke off. Well, if she knew her brother half as well as she would have said she did yesterday, he wouldn't like being talked to as a fragile doll. 

Today.. Well, Leia wasn't so sure she did know him as well as she had but that would change. Soon. 

"To the transport. Look, I can sense the other's nearby it and we need to get them out of there before the Emporer recovers and comes after them. I still have some friends on Tatooine who'll take them in. I hope." Luke gave a small smile. 

"So we just send them off?" Leia raised an eyebrow though she took all the smugness out of her voice. 

Qui-Gon spoke up, patronizing in the extreme. "Leia, it might be best in you stayed behind. After all--" 

"After all, I'm just a leader in the Rebellion. After all, I'm just someone the Empire has on their Most Wanted List because I'm helping to win the war. After all, I'm just someone who was elected as Senator to Alderaan at eighteen. After all, it's only my twin brother who needs help. Is that it?" 

__

I am so tired of being pushed around and not being taken seriously. I spent these last few months getting pushed around in the hopes that I could save Han! Now that he's free, I still don't get the respect I deserve! 

"Leia--" 

Obi-Wan interrupted his Master softly. "Master, I think it would be best if she went." 

"Thank you, Obi-Wan." Leia sent a smile his way and with that, she started leading the group to the transport. 

After all, you never got anywhere by just watching. It was about time that she remembered that.

------------------ 

Anakin looked at Amidala covertly as they shifted to help Rabé stand better. He didn't want Amidala to think he was a, ya know, a stalker or something. 

But still... Amidala being the Queen? _Wow! I'm friends with a Queen!_

He knew what mattered most was that Amidala was a nice person, very caring and brave. But still... She was a Queen! How wizard! 

"Look! The ship!" Amidala's voice broke into his thoughts sharply. He looked up and saw it was the transport. Plus, arriving at the ship from the opposite side was Captain Calrissian and the Other-Queen. 

Ani adverted his eyes quickly. It was the same thing Leia had been in earlier and he hadn't liked seeing it on her either. 

Softly, the girl that Jar Jar was carrying, Eirtaé he thought, spoke up. "Poor Sabé. Having to wear that must be awful.." 

__

Okay. Sabé. I really should learn everyone's name... Maybe everyone can sit down and do a little 'name game' thing like Wald said they did at school? 

"Wesa should justa be big-happy that she's alive!" Jar Jar nodded emphatically but made sure not to bounce Eirtaé around. 

Amidala's voice was just a little annoyed. "You were tortu--" Then she threw a glance towards him and abruptly switched words. "Hurt by Palpatine and you feel bad because Sabé's in a shiny gold outfit?" 

Rabé coughed a little. "Queen, what would you have us to do? Complain that we were hurt badly?" 

"As we are on that subject, can we walk a little faster? I could really use some bacta pads." Eirtaé was trying to defuse the subject, it was the same tone Mom used when she was trying to stop a fight. 

__

Mom... 

After that, they walked a little faster and met up with Pseudo Queen Sabé and the Captain at the ship in a few minutes. 

Sabé's eyes suddenly widened as she jogged over, handing a bunch of cool-looking parts to the Captain. "By the Gods... Eirtaé, Rabé, what happened?!" 

Amidala broke in smoothly with, "Palpatine. Now what's that you were carrying, Sabé?" 

"The missing parts for the ship." Sabé paused. "They know?" 

__

Random but... Rabé. Sabé. Eirtaé. Padmé. The Naboo have a thing for fancy e's. 

"They know. The whole point of the secret was pretty much ruined." Amidala tried to smile but it faltered after a few seconds. 

Lando came up and spoke slowly. "Maybe it's just me but shouldn't we be getting the injured people inside? Here." 

With that, Lando picked up Rabé and motioned for Jar Jar to follow him up the open ramp. They all followed them and Sabé and Anakin toward the back of the group. 

Anakin couldn't help grinning as he heard Sabé mumble, "Is it just me or does the universe have it out for us?"

------------------ 

Amidala sent Sabé to the wardrobe room to change as soon as they were all on board the ship. Ric Olie and Captain Panaka had apparently gathered most of her party. 

"Into what?" 

"It doesn't particularly matter at this point. We are nowhere that such distinctions count." 

"And are we returning?" 

"We will. But I believe we will circumvent Coruscant." 

Sabé raised her eyebrows. "Then you don't plan to confront Palpatine?" 

"With what evidence? A trip to the future?" 

"Ah. I was beginning to wonder who I was dealing with here. I had the oddest thought that you meant to attack. Physically." 

"I haven't discounted the possibility." Amidala glanced over her shoulder, to where Ani was helping Lando and Jar Jar tend to the other handmaidens. "Palpatine will steal far more from me than I am willing to part with. I will stop him. Somehow. But if it can be done without an explosive confrontation, then it will be better. A war will cost us dearly in the end." 

Sabé was shaking her head. "Your Majesty, we may not be able to avoid it. If he plans to take the galaxy..." 

"To do it as he planned would require our continued acquiesence for the next few years, I believe. I will not cooperate with him. I will sign no treaties and I will not... " 

She blinked. "I need to ask Leia what I originally did on Coruscant." 

"Surely, you're not planning to bring her with us?" 

"Sabé, we need to install the parts you and Lando have gotten us. We'll still need to find another safe haven to do so. Tatooine is no longer that haven. We do not know ourselves what the shape of the galaxy is now. We will still need their help to avoid flying straight into an Imperial fortress." 

She nodded. "'Padmé''s battle uniform is still available. As your current disguise is perfectly functional, I would greatly appreciate the loan." 

"Take it." 

"Thank you." 

Sabé disappeared into the changing room, and Amidala went to join the others. 

Rabé was sitting up already, looking tired and ill-used, but all right. Ani and Jar Jar 

were bandaging a burn on her arm. 

Eirtaé was still lying down, and Lando was shining a light in her eyes. 

"How is she?" Amidala asked. 

Lando stood. "She'll be okay. But let her rest for awhile." 

"Of course." 

"Panaka?" Lando said into his comm-link. 

The Captain's voice came back, covered with static, because the communications systems didn't sync up precisely. "Yes?" 

"Head into orbit. We'll rendevouz with Han and lock the hulls. We can tow you into hyperspace if we decide we need to go."

------------------ 

Han sighed as he turned off his commlink. One of the Jedi must have had one and contacted him from outside his ship. He guessed his surveillance scanners were broken, probably from the neglect the Falcon had suffered recently. 

Lando had been taking care of the Falcon since Bespin. And of all people who could've gotten it, Lando wasn't even on the top 100. 

He tore away himself away from the thoughts of his ship and grudgingly let the door down. 

Han's personal slogan about Jedi was, 'You want trouble, find a bunch of Jedi.' 

He remembered enough about Corellia as a kid to know that much. 

"Hey Han." Han's head jerked up at the voice. 

"Leia! I didn't know you were with that bunch! Where ya--" 

Before Han could finish, Luke entered the cockpit slowly, holding his leg. "Hey, Han, do you think that we could set a course for Dagobah? Please?" 

"Why would you want..." Han trailed off as Leia shot a look his way. It wasn't one of her 'You are so annoying' glares or anything else he'd seen on her. 

It was begging. 

__

She's begging for Luke's sake. The proud little princess is pleading for Luke. 

"Sure kid. That is, if you know the coordinates, I've never heard of it. What is it, some long lost planet where Jedi lived?" Not hesitating for a second, Han cracked a smile and moved over for the kid to sit. 

Luke began punching in numbers. He looked completely zoned out for a few minutes so when he spoke up, it was a shock. "No, that's Coruscant." 

Han mock-sighed, trying to cover up how worried he really was. By the look on Leia's face, it wasn't just him. 

"I think I'll go get a med-pack for my leg. Obi-Wan has a few scratches, he can probably use something too." Luke stood up, winced and left holding his leg. 

"Leia, you're going to tell me what's up." Han held up a hand before any outburst could start. "But first, I have to call the others, make sure everything's all right." 

Leia tried to smile and failed miserably. "See if my mother's safe, will you?" 

"Your mother? The Queen, err, Sabé, whatever her name is and Lando didn't mention you had a mother! Well, I knew you had a mother but not down there... Oh, you get it." Han was getting confused here. What was next, was Obi-Wan her father? 

"The Queen's name is Amidala, Han. As for my mother, her name is Padmé. She's one of her handmaidens. I forgot you didn't know." Leia managed a shrug at the end but Han barely saw it. 

Lando and Sabé had managed to say a few things after the truth was let out. One little tidbit was that the real Queen Amidala was pretending to be Padmé. 

"Padmé is Queen Amidala, Leia. Your mother is the Queen of Naboo!" Huh. It didn't sound quite as calm as it had in his head. 

"She's the what?!" Leia's eyes were practically glowing and her every motion screamed 'take that back'. At least he wasn't the only one shocked out of his mind. 

__

Not only is she the last Princess of Alderaan, she's the last Princess of Naboo! At that point his thoughts started swirling, not becoming concise until, _I'm dating a double-Princess..._ came along. 

"Our lives are such a soap opera." With that said, Leia sank into her seat, covered her eyes with her left hand and motioned for Han to call the others with her right. 

Turning on the communication system, Han had to agree.

------------------ 

The ships blasted into orbit simultaneously -- Amidala hoped that they weren't being tracked -- then Olie followed Solo's lead, heading into a part of the binary system that was in the planet's "shadow," as far as the sensors went. 

Ani came and stood beside her as the two ships performed the mechancial lock that would allow deep space passage between them. The hulls were locked in several ways; the corridor stretched between the engine room at the base of the Nubian and the top hatch of the mongrel ship that Solo was flying. Ani was watching with interest on a viewscreen, and tried to tell her what all the gadgets attached to Solo's ship were for, but she couldn't concentrate, and after awhile he stopped talking and just took her hand, as he had yesterday when he was leading her out of the storm. 

__

It's no big deal. That's how it works, isn't it? He just takes my hand, and I take his hand, and we both feel a little bit better for it. 

Leia came up the ladder first. She looked like she might put her arms out for an embrace, then she held back. "Are you... is everyone all right?" 

"We're all fine, Leia. Where is Luke?" 

"His leg was hurt. And Ben -- Obi-Wan, that is -- has a few scratches. But they'll be fine. Luke wants to go to a world called Dagobah." 

Amidala shrugged; she'd never heard of it. 

"Yeah," someone cracked from the opening in the floor, "I think it sounds kind of fishy, too." Han Solo pulled himself the rest of the way in. "I got the rest of the coordinates, but we all better sit down and have a long talk before we decide where we're going. I don't know if you folks want to go to this mystery planet with us. And, maybe it's me, _your Highness_ -- " he used the title pointedly, looking straight at Amidala " -- but I'd at least like to know who's really who around here." 

"Is it true?" Leia asked. "Are you really the Queen?" 

Amidala nodded. "Yes. There's little point in disguising myself here. I had simply... not found the right time to break my disguise." 

"Great," Solo said, rolling his eyes and kissing Leia's cheek. "I thought she was bossy when she was only royal from _one_ side." He kissed her again; obviously, her 

"bossiness" was a running joke between them. Beside Amidala, Ani was squirming at the display, but he remained silent. He seemed to be picking up on a strong current of feeling from Leia -- Amidala herself could almost pick up on it -- that she would prefer it if she could simply pretend he wasn't there. Amidala would have to correct that, but right now, it was time to come up to the surface, and let things be for awhile. 

She shook her head. "Alas, the bossiness is inborn. It doesn't come with the title, though it might lead to it." Solo looked puzzled. Amidala explained patiently; she'd had to do so many times. "Naboo royalty was hereditary long, long ago. But for centuries, the monarchy has been elected. My parents were farmers. My children, had they been raised on Naboo, would find their own places in society." She smiled at Leia. "Though you might have made a magnificent Princess of Theed. If I can get this fixed, would you like me to help you run?" 

Leia laughed, then stopped, as if remembering that she wasn't supposed to enjoy herself, and said, "I prefer the Senate." 

"Then the Senate it shall be." 

"Mother... " Leia bit her lip. "Mother, if you 'fix this,' as you put it, it's possible that I won't be born at all. Or Luke." 

Solo, who had been absently holding her, stood back as if struck. "What?" 

Leia didn't answer him. Her question had been to Amidala, and Amidala had to answer it. She looked at Ani, who had been looking up at her, but looked away quickly, then looked back at Leia. "I will not allow that to happen," she said. "Some things are not an option."

------------------ 

Anakin rubbed his eyes. It was almost time for a new day to start and he was still up. _Mom would be mad._

He brushed off that thought, it wasn't time to get homesick. He had to stay by Amidala and make sure she was okay. When she went to bed, he'd have to make sure she wasn't having nightmares. He was used to getting by on a couple hours of sleep, Watto made him do it when he needed extra help for stuff. 

"So, your Queenliness, what's with the disguise anyway?" Han grinned, keeping an arm around Leia from where he was sitting on the floor. It was just Anakin, Amidala, Leia and Han, everyone else was sleeping or watching over those in the med-center. 

They had gotten less serious a little while ago and Anakin thought they were just talking to talk. 

"Protection. Back home, the Trade Federation wanted me to sign a treaty legalizing the destruction of my planet. They actually thought I would let them come in, boss my people around and ruin the environment." Amidala's voice was mocking but she squeezed his hand a little to make up for it. 

Leia rolled her eyes. "At least they tried to make it legal, Mother. Plenty don't." 

Amidala smiled. It wasn't just a smile, it was a beam of sunlight bursting into clouds. 

"I like the sound of that." 

"Of what?" Han drawled it out, he was a typical pilot. Anakin really wanted to talk to him later and find out more about the ship. 

"The word 'mother,' of course," Ami's eyes danced. "Do you actually think that I like the idea of people barging in and doing whatever they feel like to Naboo?" 

"Why wouldn't I call you Mother? Luke calls him Father, after all." Him was pronounced with carefully controlled anger. Things were easy for Leia. She just didn't like him because of the Other. 

Han noticed it too and spoke up quickly, "Luke didn't have parents, Leia. He just had a foster aunt and uncle. You on the other hand, had--" 

"A very busy foster king. Running a whole planet and managing good public relations takes time, you know." Leia's tone was wry but there was a little sadness in it too. 

She was his daughter. He wanted her to have had a happy childhood, and she was radiating loneliness, to him at least. 

"So, do you guys think Vader will come after us?" Han was changing the subject but not to a better one. Leia's eyes glazed over and Amidala's hands were shaking. 

Anakin knew it was up to him to talk, the others couldn't. "He's dead. Really, really dead. So's the other Sith. Plus, the Emperor's unconscious." 

"Nice summary. Why can't you all be so helpful?" Han playfully glared at the girls until it sunk in. "Dead?" 

"One with the Force." Anakin nodded and decided to ask a question that had been bugging him a little. "Are you a smuggler? 'Cause this is a super-cool, way wizard smuggler ship." 

Han smirked. "I'm an ex-smuggler. I'm with the Rebellion now and with Leia there, it'll stay that way." 

"This is a smuggler ship?" Amidala just didn't have the appreciation he had for the Falcon, Anakin supposed. 

"I'll think I'll be going to bed now. 'Night Leia. Sleep well on the smuggler ship, your Majesty. You too, Kid." With that Han scrambled down the ladder and Anakin giggled slightly at his expression. 

"I'll be getting some sleep now, too. Good night Mother, Anakin." She left more sedately that Han, leaving Amidala and Anakin alone. 

After a few seconds, Amidala squeezed Anakin's hand and scooted over closer. They just sat there for a while as they looked out at the stars.

------------------ 

When Amidala was very small, her grandmother, Winama, had told her a story about two little children, a brother and sister, wandering lost in the swamps. It had been the only story that she'd ever had nightmares about. They had battle opee sea killers and nasty land animals, but those fights never scared Amidala. They had won them. They had run across an old witch, but Amidala shrugged the witch off. The nightmares came from the middle of the story, when the children were lost and alone, and it was night time. They huddled together and held on to each other, and that was how they got through. For months after hearing the story, Amidala would wake up in the dark, drawing her blankets up around her, but unable to get warm. She would reach out, one arm braving the world away from the blanket, grasping at empty air for something she couldn't identify. 

Now, truly lost in the dark and cold of space, she reached out, and there was the other, and that was good. He was a brother now, as the boy in the story had been. 

They could protect each other. 

He snugged his arm a little tighter around her. "I'm very cold," he explained, a little embarrassed. 

She nodded, adjusting her position to shelter him a little better. "Space is cold." 

"You can go to sleep if you want. I'll keep watch." 

"I don't think we need to keep watch, Ani. We're among friends." 

"Family." 

"Yes. Family." Amidala spotted a tattered old tan blanket beside a chess table, and reached for it, dragging it to them. "Here," she said, handing him one end, and wrapping it around both of them. "That'll be better." 

"You don't have to take care of me." Amidala didn't say anything. Ani moved his arm under the blanket, then drew out his fist. A leather string trailed from it. "I made this for you," he said. "I guess lots of stuff is going to keep us together and everything, so maybe I can get you something better someday instead, and I understand if you think maybe a queen should only wear better stuff..." 

He opened his hand, a bit of pale wood dangled down from the string. Amidala took it, held it in her hand. It was lightweight, and arcane, mysterious symbols had been burned into it. Somewhere, in the middle of everything, he'd taken time to polish it to a shine. "It's beautiful," she said, and put it around her neck before he had a chance to say anything else. "Ani, things are... intense right now. Whatever happens in the future, you need to remember that it's the future. Right now, I'm just... " 

"It's okay. I get it. I -- the other I -- did something nice for you, so you're being nice to me to say thank you for something I haven't done yet." 

"No, you don't get it. I... Oh, never mind. I don't even know how to explain it." 

They sat together without speaking for several minutes, just huddling under the blanket, looking across the gray room. Finally, from the corner of her eye, Amidala saw his head dip down. When he spoke, his eyes were directed at the floor. "I'm really sorry," he said. 

"What?" 

"I mean, about the stuff I'm going to do. And... well, that you have to stick with me, on account of the twins. I'm really sorry I wasn't someone, you know, better." 

From anyone else, it would have sounded like a plea for attention. But Ani said it in an even, slow tone. He'd been thinking it. _Really_ thinking it. And Amidala wouldn't have it. 

She moved and turned him so that they were facing each other, the blanket pulled taught between them. "You listen to me, Ani. The future is the future. I am not _resigned_ to it. I am not consigning myself to you in order avoid endangering the twins. Someday, we will love each other and we will be happy." 

"But I'm going to -- " 

"Why should you?" She sighed. "Ani, I'll watch over you. And I'll count on you to watch over me. And between us and the Force and whatever mercy there is in the galaxy, we'll stop... _that_ from happening. But even if we can't, even if there's no mercy for us, I don't want to give up whatever it is we're going to have. When you -- the other you -- spoke to me, I heard so much... Ani, I am looking forward to our future. I hate how it's going to end, but I won't let that take the happiness we will be allowed." 

He blinked slowly. On some level, he understood what she'd said. On another, he was a nine-year-old boy, and he was squirming away from the whole idea, and Amidala knew that she needed to back away now. 

She reached up and pinched his nose. "In the meantime," she said, "you're not getting rid of me as the most annoying, overprotective big sister you ever had nightmares about." 

Suddenly, he grinned, and the whole room seemed to brighten. "I can live with that," he said. 

"Good. Now go to sleep. I'll be here." 

He mumbled something about not needing to sleep, but she felt him shift under her arm, and a moment later, his breathing was soft and even, and his grip on her hand relaxed. 

She kissed his forehead, and waited in the dark, to guard against whatever monsters might come up from the deeps.

------------------ 

Leia didn't end up getting much sleep. 

First, there was the awkwardness of not knowing exactly _where_ to sleep -- she'd been in Han's bunk for the last six months, but now he was there, and she wasn't quite sure she was ready for that just now. Before he'd been gone, she'd been in another cabin, but that had been taken over by some Naboo refugees before she'd thought to say anything about it. Maybe if she'd spent more time with him today, instead of being with... 

Pointless. She had thought the excursion into town would be a short one, and she had the rest of her life with Han, and besides... 

She was scared out of her mind. She had no idea what was supposed to happen next, or how this was supposed to work out. She wasn't even sure that he planned to stay with the Rebellion, and when she'd said she loved him, all he'd answered was "I know." She'd sacrificed everything to get him back to the land of the living. Now, the questions she'd left in abeyance during the crisis would have to be answered. 

At long last, she had settled in beside him, and was glad that he was as nervous as she was. He finally drifted off to sleep, his arms comfortably around her, and she held his hand, hoping that she could do the same, but sleep only settled in occasional fits and spurts, and finally, she'd given up on it and slipped out into the quiet corridor. 

She could hear voices in the cockpit -- Luke's certainly, probably Kenobi's. Jinn's? Panaka's? She just wasn't sorting them out too well yet. One voice was a woman's voice. She headed toward them. 

As she passed the checkerboard, she looked down at the two small forms huddled together, both asleep beneath a blanket. Anakin Skywalker was clutching Mother's arm, holding it like a stuffed toy. Mother's head had dropped toward her chest, her chin coming to rest on Anakin's hair. 

Leia loved them. 

It came to her with no fanfare whatsoever, with no morbid turns of the mind, and with no conflict about Anakin -- Father -- in her heart. It was just a dull ache inside her heart that felt as if it had always been there, and she supposed it always had. It was the same ache that had flared up painfully on Coruscant, the day Vader had begged her not to join the Rebellion, the day he had almost embraced her. 

__

I love my parents and I miss them, and for some reason, I miss them the most when they're right with me. 

She went on to the cockpit. 

It was crowded. All three Jedi were there, as well as Captain Panaka and Lando. One of the two injured handmaidens was propped carefully into Han's seat, Chewie was sitting at navigation, and the decoy queen -- Mother's bodyguard, Sabé -- was sitting on the floor at the handmaiden's feet. All were keeping their voices low, but there was apparently some kind of argument going on. 

"What is it?" Leia asked. 

"The Jedi are determined to go to Dagobah," Panaka said. "But Lando believes it might be safer to remain Tatooine with friends of his." 

"And you?" 

"My personal preference is to return to whatever remains of Naboo." 

Leia shook her head. "It's deserted, but it's watched. Constantly. It would be a bad idea to go there." 

"Have you been?" the injured handmaiden asked. 

Leia mentally went through the list of the names of the other handmaidens. Her foster mother, Sache, had once been among them. This was the one with the accent, from far up country. Rabé. "Once. My... my foster mother's funeral was held there." Leia stopped short of mentioning why. She didn't want to upset them any more. "The Empire was present at all times." 

"All right," Panaka said. "I suppose it was too much to hope for." 

Chewie barked out a few syllables, and Leia was catching enough to know that his recommendation was to rendevouz with the Rebel fleet near Sullust. She shook her head. "It's a target, Chewie. I don't want to suddenly find ourselves in battle." 

"The queen should be involved in this decision," Panaka insisted. 

And that, apparently, was the true cause of the argument. The Jedi simply stayed out of it, and Leia had the distinct impression that they were planning to just head out to Dagobah no matter what the decision was. But Sabé's eyes flashed. "Her Majesty hasn't slept properly since the invasion. I won't wake her now to discuss 

travel plans." 

Rabé laughed quietly, then winced, and Leia remembered that she'd suffered a cracked rib. "Sabé," she said, "if you _don't_ wake her, and we end up going without her permission, you will get a royal scolding." 

"Clearly," Sabé said, "I'll survive it." 

"Survive what?" a sleepy voice said at the door. 

"Moot point," Lando commented, as Mother leaned in. Her eyes were bleary, and her arms were crossed against the cold after being under the blanket. 

The situation was explained. 

She considered it, the sleep falling away in stages and the adult weariness settling back into her face. "If we choose to remain on Tatooine, I believe Kitster will allow us to go back to Sanctuary. I got the impression that he is largely left alone. And yet, it would be helpful for the Jedi to have counsel on this matter from their own ranks. I'm afraid that my advice on this matter is not unequivocal." 

Leia sighed. It was going to be a long argument.

------------------ 

Lando made a face at the Jedi unconsciously. They wouldn't say anything and they were the reason this debate was taking place. All they did was raise eyebrows and look all-knowing. 

"Why don't we just split up?" Leia was rubbing her temples in an attempt to ward off a headache. The Princess was sitting next to him and had been steadily getting more annoyed as time went on. 

Rabé spoke up in a soft but 'I better get my way or else' manner. "That would work. We'll just send the Jedi can go to Dagobah with whoever chooses to fly them and Amidala can stay back. Along with everyone else who chooses to do so, of course." 

__

That's to easy to work. Way, way too easy. 

Chewie grumbled out a reply. **_"Han and I can fly the Jedi to Dagobah. It is better then being here."_**

Obi-Wan crinkled his nose, the first sign of annoyance that had come from the Jedi. "I do know how to fly a ship." Glancing at everyone's mild looks of surprise he received, Obi-Wan quirked his lips. "I speak a little Wookiee." 

"What is it that they teach in that Jedi Temple?" Sabé looked amused as she propped up her head on her hand. The girl was sitting with her legs folded on the floor, probably not very comfortable. 

"That's top secret information," Qui-Gon paused. "I have no problem with you being our pilots. Anyone else wish to go?" 

Lando threw a look Leia's way and noticed that she was obviously thinking it out. He leaned over and whispered, "Just go. I'll make sure your Mother's fine, Leia." 

__

Besides, I'm outnumbered here. No one wants to be safe on Tatooine. 

"I'm going." Leia's voice was sleepy but firm. She didn't want any arguing, she was going to watch over her twin. Or at least Lando thought Luke was he twin, gossip was getting a little out of hand on this ship. 

It was a known fact that pilots liked to spread rumors. Out of boredom, thinking it was funny, whatever. The Naboo pilot refugees weren't exceptions to the rule. 

Some of the funnier things being spread around involved Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon secretly in love, Luke being Palpatine's new second, and Chewie being pregnant with Leia's love child. 

Amidala played with her long chocolate colored hair distractedly she spoke up. "Fine. You can fly off with the Falcon in the morning and the Naboo ship will remain here for repairs. I'm sure Ani will help. Lando?" 

His head jerked up. "Sure, your Majesty." He looked around the room with a grin. "Right now though, I'm going to bed. I suggest you guys do the same. 'Night!" 

With that Lando walked out, his head already starting to feel a little better.

------------------ 

Padmé -- Amidala -- had needed to wake Anakin up in order to get up and go listen to everyone, and he was sort of embarrassed to find out that he'd been holding on to her arm that tightly in his sleep. He watched he go, thinking that he'd like to listen to what everyone was saying, too, but not wanting to look like he was following her around. 

The cold came back fast, though, and he couldn't seem to wrap the blanket tight enough to get warm. And it was kind of boring to just sit here, and the only good place to go was where everyone was talking. So after ten minutes or so, he changed his mind and followed her anyway. 

The voices were low, but there were lots of them, including the Wookiee. Anakin had never met a Wookiee up close before and he was interested to see one, but he guessed it probably wasn't the time to ask questions (and besides, he'd lost track of where future-Threepio was, and he didn't speak Wookiee at all). Leia looked like she wasn't feeling very good, and someone had just let her sit down over by the naviputer. The fake queen looked mad at someone. Padmé looked like Queen Amidala. 

Anakin didn't know where that thought came from -- she was dressed the same as before and she wasn't saying anything, and she was just leaning over a display, but she sure looked like she was the one calling the shots. 

Luke held up one hand, and everyone stopped talking. 

"Hi," Anakin said. "I couldn't sleep. What are we talking about?" 

"We're talking about where we go from here," Padmé said. "The Jedi want to visit -- " 

Luke touched her arm. "We want to have a council with a remaining Jedi on another world. The rest of you... I think maybe Lando and Mother are right. You should remain on Tatooine and fix the ship." 

"But I want to go with you." Anakin winced. He sounded like he was whining. He hated it when he sounded like that. But he'd never get to know Luke later, and this was the only chance he'd get, and he couldn't understand why they should split up the group unless... He lowered his eyes. "I'm not supposed to find out who's alive and where he is, right?" 

A large hand fell on his shoulder, and Qui-Gon said, "Look up, Ani." 

Anakin tried, but couldn't keep his eyes all the way up. Qui-Gon turned his face up gently. "Ani," he said, "you are blameless right now, and have no reason to lower your eyes. But we must think practically." 

"Yes, sir." 

"Ani, I mean it. You are blameless now. And it hurts me to take this precaution. I do not wish it." 

"Thank you, sir." 

"Besides," Padmé said, "I need you to help Capatin Olie fix my ship." She sighed. "I will say, I dislike splitting the group at all. If we need to leave suddenly... " 

"We can set a rendevouz point." 

The Wookiee grumbled something, and Leia shook her head. "No," she said. "That's another place I'd just as soon keep secure. If you need to take off suddenly, go to..." She turned away. "Go to Alderaan's coordinates. We'll find you there." 

"Is there someplace you want us to land?" Sabé asked. "I'm not terribly familiar with -- " 

Luke was shaking his head rapidly to get her to stop, but it was too late. Leia looked like she'd been stabbed right through. But she stayed cool. Somehow, she stayed cool, even though she said, "There is no longer a place to land, Sabé. Alderaan no longer exists." 

Dead silence. 

Anakin felt like someone should do something, but no one seemed to be, so he went to her, stood behind her, and put one hand on her shoulder. 

Her back went stiff and straight, and she brushed his hand away like it was a creepy-crawler that had dropped on her from the roof of a cave. 

He stepped back. He'd forgotten that she hated him. When he'd first come in, she hadn't said anything at all and -- 

Her hand came out, fingers wrapping around his wrist. She put his hand back on her shoulder, and covered it with her own. 

He didn't know exactly what it meant, except that she was going to let him try to comfort her, and that was good, so he left his hand where she put it, and squeezed her shoulder a little bit, like Mom did when she stood behind him while Watto scolded him for something. She still looked like she was thinking of 

__

(no you can't, alderaan is peaceful, we have no weapons... ) 

something else, some other time when his hand was on her shoulder, when it hadn't been for comfort, but she was a good person, and she 

__

(loved) 

was going to be nice to him anyway. 

"Okay," Padmé said, getting over the shock of it first. "Probably nothing will happen. You three go and talk to your associate. We'll get the ship fixed here. I think Kitster's place is probably the safest, and I know we can trust him, though I will hear Baron Calrissian's suggestions when we reach the surface as well."

------------------ 

Luke had little to do while the ships prepared to separate, and for once, he was glad of it. He stood beside Leia, facing their parents at the base of the ladder between present and past. None of them had gotten much sleep, and Mother's attempt to freshen up by changing into an orange and red dress like the handmaidens didn't have any noticeable effect on how tired she looked.   
  
This would be the last connection undone, and Han and Lando had agreed to do all the navigational programming first, to give the family some time together. Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon Jinn had made excuses about studying the charts, and Mother's entourage had already settled themselves back into the Nubian.   
  
No one was talking. Luke couldn't think of anything to say. In all likelihood, it was the last time they would be together, the last time they _could _say anything. But what?   
  
He supposed he should have guessed that Father would break the silence, but the soft, high voice still surprised him.   
  
Father opened his arms. "Can I... could I... I'm never going to get to hug you guys when you're little. I guess maybe you won't want me to. But could I...?"   
  
To Luke's surprise, Leia answered by kneeling before him, placing her head on his shoulder, and wrapping her arms around him. "Please," she said.   
  
Father's arms moved slowly, in a kind of wonderment, as he crossed them behind her head, and petted her hair with his small hand. Luke could see a kind of light behind his face, a serenity that was beyond his years.   
  
He felt a hand on his own, and turned to find Mother beside him. She was not offering an embrace, but she leaned heavily on his arm, and he pulled her to his side. Father reached out one hand, and Luke took it. Leia grasped for Mother's hand and found it.   
  
Luke didn't know how long they stayed like that, the four of them, just holding on to one another. But it ended. Leia drew away first, and stood up. Her eyes were dry, her face calm and peaceful. "Thank you," she said, looking at each of the others.   
  
Father squeezed her hand. "I kind of wish I thought we'd never see each other again..."   
  
Leia shook her head. "This is probably my last memory of you. I'm glad it's a better one. I hope that it ... that it's your face I'll remember."   
  
"Stop it!" Mother let go of Luke's hand and stood at the base of the ladder, brown eyes flashing. "I won't hear about this never seeing one another again business. Both of you listen: we're going to fix this. And we'll _all_ be together. For a long time."   
  
Luke kissed her cheek. "Goodbye, Mother. Just in case. I'm glad that I'll finally remember you."   
  
She pushed him away in irritation at the sentiment, then pulled him fiercely to her, her arms around his neck. Luke thought she might say something, but she didn't.   
  
Behind them, Lando cleared his throat to announce his presence. "We need to separate," he said.   
  
Mother pulled away, nodding, and wiped her eyes. "Yes, Baron Calrissian, of course. And perhaps all this was for nothing. Perhaps we'll see you when you return from -- " She almost slipped. " -- from your conference." She took Luke's hands, mechanical and real, and kissed them both, then did the same with Leia. "I _will _see you again," she said. "At least in my time. And I will give you as many kisses as I'm allowed."   
  
Lando came by, and touched her shoulder. "We need to get moving, Your Highness."   
  
Mother nodded, but didn't move. Father touched Luke's face, then Leia's, then said, "I'm really, really sorry." He turned without saying anything else, and scampered up the ladder. Lando followed him.   
  
Mother stood there for a moment longer, then smiled softly at both Luke and Leia. There was no challenge, no fierce defense. Just beauty and love. "My children," she whispered, and the smile broadened. "I'm really proud to be your mother."   
  
She turned and started up the ladder, and Luke thought that she planned to say nothing further... but just as she was about to cross into her own ship, she stopped and looked down, a cool, intellectual curiosity on her face. "Leia... you said you knew me before I died?"   
  
"Yes..."   
  
"How did I die?"   
  
"I was very young. First you were there, then you weren't there. Later, my -- well, my foster mother -- told me that you jumped from a landing platform on Coruscant."   
  
The distanct, puzzled look deepened. "I don't think I would," she said firmly, but, Luke thought, mostly to herself. "I really don't think so."   
  
"Mother?"   
  
"The last thing your father said to me was 'You're still here.' Does that make sense to either of you?"   
  
It didn't.   
  
Mother shook her head, and pulled the hood of her gown up over her hair. Luke could see only her chin and mouth. "I need to go," she said. "But I'll always be with you. I promise."   
  
At the top of the ladder, she leaned over the hatch, her half-hooded face remaining visible until the airlock separated them.   
  
Luke turned to his sister, not knowing what to expect at all... and expecting what he got least of all. Leia's face mirrored Mother's, the look of analytical confusion cooling the depths of her eyes. She left the room without saying anything.   
  
Luke stood between them as deep space filled the void between the ships, and wondered what mystery they were pondering. 

------------------ 

_Tatooine, just before dawn._  
  
Dritali had fallen asleep on vigil, curling up on the ground beside Vader's body like a cat. Kit had tried to tell her to go inside to sleep, but she wouldn't have it.   
  
_How does he inspire that kind of loyalty, even now?_

  
But Kit had no answer. He was, after all, still here as well, waiting for the light of the suns to touch Anakin for the first time. He had taken the stone from Padmé's belt and placed it Anakin's hands, and when the vigil was over, he planned to free Anakin of the wretched suit, then clean him and see to a funeral pyre. Compared to that, the girl's choice to sleep outside was normal. But he couldn't think what else there was to do.   
  
Inside Sanctuary, he heard the children beginning to wake up as the first sun rose. Vertash, as always, was up first; apparently, the night's work had not made him sleep any longer than was his habit. He announced himself to the day by leaning out his window and singing a few phrases in a language Kit didn't recognize; Vertash refused to comment on the ritual or explain it, but he had a pleasant voice, and the other children didn't seem to mind waking to it.   
  
The song was about halfway through when Vertash stopped singing. Kit heard footsteps thundering down the stairway, and was already standing up when Vertash burst out into the garden. He averted his eyes from the body. "Kit, I'm sorry to, you know, bust in, but there's a lot of people coming through the desert. And that girl from before is with them, the one who was talking to... " He gestured at the body. "You know."   
  
"Stay here with Dritali," Kit told him. "I don't want her to wake up alone here."   
  
Vertash nodded, and took a post beside Dritali. When push came to shove, Vertash -- like Anakin -- was a caretaker, taken to sometimes absurd extremes. If Dritali awoke upset, he would be able to calm her.   
  
Kit went out to meet his guests.   
  
They were approaching from the Nubian, which had landed in the shadow of a rock face. Amidala came first, walking beside a man about Kit's own age, dressed in the uniform of Jabba's guard. Behind them...   
  
Oh, the faces. Their beautiful faces. Sabé, Eirtaé, Rabé, Panaka, Olie... Kit smiled, and ran forward, heedless of the arthritis that had started paining him a few years back. Most of them didn't know him yet, but he knew them, and seeing them made his heart light again.   
  
"Kitster?"   
  
Kit blinked. Anakin Skywalker stood before him, a dusty slave child with a scrape on his arm. "Anakin," he said, then amended it to "Ani."   
  
"Hi."   
  
"Hi." Kit sighed. "I... welcome back to Sanctuary, Amidala. You and your friends are welcome. Go on inside. The children are waking up, and Kerea will help you. I need to talk to Ani for a minute. And Amidala? Don't go outside yet."   
  
She nodded, and led the group inside.   
  
"What is it, Kitster?"   
  
Kit smiled. "I've been Kit so long that I'll forget to answer to that."   
  
"Okay. Kit, then. What is it?"   
  
"Ani, I don't know how much you know about what's been happening here..."   
  
"I know I'm the bad guy, if that's what you mean."   
  
"It isn't. Did Amidala tell you that you're... "   
  
"Dead?"   
  
"Yes."   
  
"Mm-hmm. I'm okay with that."   
  
"This is a very strange conversation." Kit looked over his shoulder, toward the main door. Through the hall, he could see the door to the rock garden, slightly askew. "Ani, last night, three of the children who live here helped me... bring you back here. I didn't want you to discover that by accident."   
  
Kit waited for Anakin to either shrug and go inside or beg to be shown his body, because it would be wizard to see something like that. The latter seemed the more likely reaction. But instead, Anakin just looked at him steadily, and said, "You did that for me? Carried me back through the desert?"   
  
"Yes. With Kerea and Vertash and Dritali. But you mustn't tell them -- particularly Dritali -- who you are."   
  
"Can you say thank you to them for me? I mean, later? That's... a really, really nice thing to do."   
  
"I'll tell them when they're ready to know. Come, welcome to Sanctuary, Ani. You'll be here again." Kit turned and started walking, expecting Anakin to follow.   
  
"Kit?"   
  
He turned. Anakin had not started walking yet. "Yes?"   
  
"Thank you. I really mean it. Thanks. That's way past the top."   
  
Kit couldn't think of anything to say except, "You're welcome."   
  
Anakin brushed past him, and disappeared into Sanctuary. 


	8. Chapter 8

Author's Note: It is highly, highly recommended that you do not scroll down to the bottom of this page before you finish the story, lest it be spoiled.

As far as a disclaimer, you know the drill.

------------------ 

Obi-Wan looked around dubiously at the swamp, pausing for a second. "This is one of the worst planets I have ever seen, Master."   
  
"Don't say that, Padawan. You know as well as I, nothing will compare to Byzantine." Qui-Gon grimaced in remembrance of that awful trip.   
  
"Unless we both manage to get drugged, married and dropped off into the jungle, no." Obi-Wan let himself have a grin at the expression on Leia's face. It really was a funny story looking back. Not something he would wish on anyone, excepting the Emperor but it was amusing all the same.   
  
"It's just like I remembered." Luke was reminiscing, off in his own little world. There was no sign of him paying any attention until he suddenly sprinted off into the distance to a small hut.   
  
Obi-Wan and the others followed him at a more leisurely pace. As he understood it, Yoda was Luke's Master, they might like a little time to catch up.   
  
Besides, Yoda enjoyed hitting Padawans with that stick with a passion. Afte twenty years without any Padawans to hit, he did not want to be the first one Yoda saw.   
  
"Qui-Gon? I think you're too tall to enter." Leia paused, as some emotion crossed over her face. "You might be able to, Obi-Wan, but ... I'd like to speak to him alone about a few things."   
  
"Like what?" Qui-Gon furrowed his brow, questioning her motives but Leia had already entered the little hut. He couldn't Force-check her either, Leia was -- well, he wasn't quite sure. Her feelings and thoughts were closed to him and his Master had said the same thing.   
  
A thought drifted through his head before he could clamp down on it. __I wouldn't want to be Yoda right about now...

------------------ 

Sanctuary.   
  
So she fits right there, with her head on my shoulder, and my hands fit on her hair, just so.  
  
Anakin blinked. It was weird. Leia had been gone for over two hours now, and he could still feel her, just exactly as if he was still hugging her there on Solo's ship. She had her own spot, and she knew where it would be. Anakin had never thought of particular people fitting particular ways, but he guessed that Mom had a spot too -- bigger than he was, her chin touching his head -- and Padmé was sort of starting to get one. Padmé's was right beside him, face to face. Which he guessed was okay, considering.   
  
He wondered where Luke would fit. He'd sometimes seen fathers and sons in Mos Espa (not often; it wasn't a place for family holidays), and sometimes the father would hook his arm around the son's neck from the side and mess up his hair, and they'd both smile and laugh. Maybe that's how Luke would fit. Anakin wanted to know.   
  
But the business with Leia... that had been so strong it was almost scary. And when she'd stood up, he felt like something was taken away from him, and he kept catching himself looking around for her. It was confusing, and his head felt like he'd been standing beside a Hutt's water pipe and breathing the smoke for an hour or so.   
  
Kitster had a pretty neat place here. Hutts built it, but he'd cleaned it up pretty good, and there were lots of kids around, some of them Anakin's own age. A few were closer to Padmé's. Many were younger than both of them, and it was to a group of these that Anakin had gravitated as soon as he'd come in. Little kids never wanted much, just to be played with and stuff, and he felt like he could handle that. And he liked the way they looked up at him.   
  
"Fix-fix," a little girl said, holding up a toy sandcrawler whose cargo hold had broken open, showing its mechanical guts instead of the broken droids she'd been pretending. Anakin took it, and tried to find where the panel fit in. No place was obvious. He thought he'd need to make a wire to connect and he didn't want to ask Kitster for...   
  
"Here."   
  
There was a thump beside him, and Kitster was hunkering down to watch. He'd put down a beaten up old tool box.   
  
My_ toolbox. He's got my toolbox. And I guess it doesn't even look that much worse than it did yesterday._  
  
"Thanks, Kitster."   
  
"No problem. I should have sent this to Luke, but I'd lost track of him by the time I found it."   
  
Anakin didn't answer, because he was going to keep his promise about not letting anyone know that he was *lots* older than they were. He found a pair of micro-pincers, and started threading wires back and forth between the panel and the main part of the toy. Kitster held it steady.   
  
"So, this is a good place."   
  
Kitster nodded. "It is. I think you should just rest here for awhile."   
  
"No, I need to go help with Padmé's ship soon."   
  
"I think you should _both _rest here for awhile."   
  
Anakin looked up at Kitster. Kitster looked like he was thinking of lots of things.   
  
"Done?" the little girl asked.   
  
Anakin glanced at the toy, and was surprised to see that it really was finished. He gave it to her, and she kissed his cheek, which made him feel about ten feet tall.   
  
"Wish I could, Kitster," he said. "But I -- "   
  
"You have to run off somewhere. Save the galaxy. I know." He stood. "You should stay," he said again, then left.   


A moment later, a boy Anakin's age came over, introduced himself as Vertash, and then proceeded to introduce all the little kids. Anakin occupied himself with learning their names. He saw two girls his own age hovering nearby, one blonde and elf-y, the other dark. The dark one would have looked something like Padmé (though not as pretty), except for having a scar on her face. He wondered how come they didn't come over.   
  
------------------   
  
Amidala wasn't sure what to do with herself. Ani had gone and found a niche already, and she liked watching him there, but the older children seemed to want her to play cards with them, and were offended when she didn't, so she played a few hands, and won them quickly enough that they stopped thinking she was bragging. Amidala didn't gamble a lot... but she had the galaxy's best poker face.   
  
After awhile, she saw Kit get up and head out the back door. She made her excuses and followed him.   
  
She stopped when she saw what it was he was headed for. Ani's body, clad in its black armor, the suns glinting off his helmet. "You carried him back," she said.   
  
Kit nodded. "I have to clean him up and... I should wait until you leave to have the pyre."   
  
"Yes. I'll help you clean him."   
  
He looked like he might argue, but in the end, he just sighed. Between them, they carried the heavy body into a small shed. She hoped Ani wouldn't take it into his head to follow her.   
  
"I told Vertash to keep him busy," Kit said, not needing her to explain what she was thinking. "I didn't tell him why, but Vertash is good about that. The girls suspect." He started to study the way Ani's helmet was attached to the suit.   
  
Amidala remembered watching the robots take it apart last night, and found the tiny hinges they had used. She pulled the helmet from his head, and started working on the mask.   
  
"Please tell me what happened," she said. "You told me that you'd tell me if I asked."   
  
Kit smiled sadly. "I want to. But when I saw him again... when I talked to him a few minutes ago... The truth is, Amidala, I never _understood_ what happened. Everything followed logically on everything else. Until something snapped. I don't know how else you could handle things."   
  
"Maybe some of the things that were 'following logically'?"   
  
He shook his head. "I could tell you to look out for Shmi, to keep her safe, and maybe to suggest that someone other than Obi-Wan train him... "   
  
Amidala looked up from where she was loosening a bit of the shoulder plate. There was a complex nest of wires and flesh under it. "Obi-Wan?"   
  
"It's not that he's a bad person, or that he and Ani didn't come to love each other a lot -- eventually anyway. But it was a bad match, just by their personalities..."   
  
"No, Kit, that's not what I mean. Why not Qui-Gon? It's Qui-Gon whow wants him."   
  
He touched her hand gently, then occupied himself with some of the workings of Ani's right arm. "Qui-Gon is going to die," he said softly. "I think maybe that was the first part of it. I think maybe Vader was born when Qui-Gon died."   
  
Amidala felt strangely cold and rational. Maybe she had to be, considering what she was doing. Or maybe it was a calculating sense that was starting to put pieces together. "How did Qui-Gon die?"   
  
"The other one, the Sith Lord, with the red and black markings... he killed him during the battle of Naboo."   
  
Amidala stopped working entirely, an energizing, buzzing feeling in her head. "Kit," she said, as calmly as she could, "the Sith apprentice is dead. He's never coming back to Naboo. He _can't_ kill Qui-Gon there." 

------------------ 

The little children had to take a mid-afternoon nap, and Anakin was left to his own devices. Padmé had gone off somewhere, and every time he tried to follow her, he got sidetracked by the two girls his own age -- Kerea and Dritali -- until he figured out that they were supposed to keep him from following. He just shook his head at them.   
  
The boy, Vertash, laughed. "They're not very good at being subtle. Girls."   
  
Anakin returned his smile cautiously. "I always figured girls were better at that stuff."   
  
"You don't know my girls."   
  
Two stuffed beanbags came flying at his head, along with indignant demands for an apology. Anakin wasn't sure which side to be on -- there was a certain boy-loyalty, but he thought the girls were right -- until he realized that Vertash had just been joking and that it was a normal joke with them. He didn't fight very hard, and it wasn't too surprising when he and Vertash fell under a rain of beanbags. Vertash issued a string of apologies so exaggerated that it got the girls laughing, and Anakin almost forgot that he wasn't happy right now.   
  
He played with them for half an hour or so, but when he caught himself starting to recite _There's no harm in playing, I'm a kid_ in his head to alleviate the guilt that was startig to build up, he realized that it wasn't fun anymore. He thanked them for being nice to him (Vertash and Kerea looked confused; Dritali beamed and said he was welcome), and went outside to the ship.   
  
Calrissian was sitting in the shadow of the gangplank, examining a scorch mark on the underside of the hull. "This isn't a lightsaber mark," he said when he saw Anakin.   
  
Anakin shrugged. "I wasn't with them for the firefight. I guess they had some guys shooting at them when they left Naboo. That's how come they lost the parts in the first place."   
  
"Sure, yeah. The Trade Federation blockade. I sort of remember it being in the news."   
  
"Are you the same age as me?"   
  
"Right about now, I'm thirty years older than you, and don't you forget it."   
  
"I won't. I was just wondering."   
  
He shrugged. "I guess I am. Maybe a year or two younger, but not much." He stood up, and Anakin could hear his bones popping. "Come on, kiddo. Padmé tells us you can fix anything."   
  
Anakin blushed furiously -- Padmé was saying nice things about him behind his back? -- but Calrissian didn't notice, because he was already walking up the gangplank into the ship. Anakin could see a few of the others hunkered down around the spare parts.   
  
He took a deep breath, and went back into the Nubian ship.   
  
If Padmé thought he could fix anything, then he supposed he'd best get to fixing it. 

------------------ 

"Maybe I was wrong," Kit said. "Maybe it wasn't Qui-Gon's death, maybe it... "   
  
"You weren't wrong," Amidala muttered. Ideas were forming in her head at a rapid pace, ideas she didn't entirely understand -- but she had not been elected Queen at fourteen by shying away from disquieting ideas. She simply needed to sort these out, make a pattern of them, make sense of what was happening. She steadied herself by cleaning Ani's face with a cool cloth. His skin was so fragile!   
  
"But we're still here. Nothing changed."   
  
"I think... I think we need to go back. And I think the future we make will be different -- but you'll still be here."   
  
"I don't understand."   
  
Amidala tried to explain, but that idea hadn't found words for itself yet. In her mind, she saw a branch of light, suddenly forking and going in two separate and different directions. For awhile, it would seem to be the same branch, but the further the forked twigs grew from one another, the more they seemed like entirely different entities.   
  
_NO! _her mind cried. _I'm not going to fix this and not have it be... be the _real __reality!   
  
A strong hand closed around her wrist, pulling her own hand away from Ani's poor face. Kit led her away from the body, to a small bench in the workshop. "Amidala, I know you don't know me, not yet, but _I_ know _you_. Something's coming together, and you don't like it."   
  
She shook her head. "There's nothing I know how to do to fix it. Not for real. If I succeed, it will just... split." The cold rationality broke away from her in a torrent, and she threw her arms around Kit. "I can't do anything! It's not fair! Even if I make it right, it will never be real, because this will still be here and everything will break on knowing it and..."   
  
Kit shushed her with the gentle touch of long experience. "Of course. You can't make the change without knowing this happened, but if you make the change, this didn't happen, you wouldn't see it here, and you wouldn't know to make any changes."   
  
"So we just go off in totally different directions and..."   
  
"Maybe. Maybe for awhile. Maybe until ... now." Kit shook his head. "I don't know. This is beyond me. I'm an ex-majordomo who works as a housemother these days. I'll leave metaphysics to you and the Jedi. I'd be more comfortable just leaving it to you."   
  
She sniffed. "I don't see how..."   
  
"I don't see how, either. But you've got thirty years or so to work on it."   
  
"But you'll -- "   
  
"Have a war, and have the orphans, and Vader will prowl the starways. I know."   
  
Amidala looked over at the dark form on the table. She couldn't just leave Ani to that fate. Not forever. "I'll speak to the Jedi," she said after awhile.   
  
"I hope you find a way."   
  
She stood and started out of the workshop, then turned. "Kit? What do you suppose Ani meant? At the end... he said I was still here. Do you know? Leia said I killed myself, or that she was told that when she was old enough."   
  
"That was the story I heard."   
  
"Did you believe it?"   
  
"No. The last time I saw you, you were sadder than I ever saw a sentient creature look, but you were still Amidala. Still rock solid."   
  
"When was that?"   
  
"You'd come here looking for something of Ani's. I'd guess it was for Luke, though I didn't know about him at the time. You were very determined about something, but you wouldn't tell me what. Why? What are you thinking?"   
  
"I'm not thinking yet. Just questioning. Seeing what I have to think with." She shook it off, her mood going to a middle ground between high emotion and cold calculation. She wondered if this was the place most people spent their emotional lives. "I need to go back to my ship and contact Qui-Gon," she said. "I'll help you... finish... later."   
  
"I'll look after his present, Amidala. You look after his past and his future."   
  
She hesitated, not wanting to leave the job to Kit, but shamefully grateful that he would do it.   
  
Then again, the living Ani needed her more than the dead Ani did now. She nodded her thanks, and headed back to her ship. 

------------------ 

Vertash balanced himself on one foot slowly, reaching dusty fingers inside the bandage on his ankle and scratching the skin beneath gently. It didn't seem to be doing anything anymore; he'd thought about taking it off, but he didn't want Kit to rewrap it.   
  
It came to him like an obscure fact suddenly remembered. Kit just was too sad to care about the stupid bandage.   
  
That bothered Vertash more than anything. Why should Kit -- who had once, secretly, indulged Kerea's nurturing impulse by allowing her to give shelter to a stray pitten during a sandstorm -- mourn someone who had borne witness to the destruction of Kerea's planet? Of the Death Star? Why should he mourn someone who had contributed to Kit's own hardships and not allowed this fact to affect him?   
  
But Kit always had a fondness for the stubborn ones.   
  
Dritali stood on a built-in bench, to the side, peering out the window at the ship in the garden.   
  
"It's him," she said, happily, to herself.   
  
The itching had persisted.   
  
"Who's who?"   
  
"It's _him_," she repeated, glancing back at Vertash only to roll her eyes.   
  
"I don't understand what you mean."   
  
She jumped down onto the floor and sat smugly on the bench. "Junior Master Kit, the master of *subtlety*" -- Vertash tilted his head playfully -- "doesn't know how to listen in properly?"   
  
He sighed impatiently. "Get to the point, Dritali."   
  
"Anakin." She looked around, knowing full well they were alone, but unable to say it loudly. It was a grand secret. "And what did Kit call Lord Vader?" 

------------------ 

Kerea felt a strong desire to wash her hands where she'd touched the boy Anakin during the bean bag fight. It had been one thing to help carry his body back -- that was an honorable thing to do, and no one deserved to be eaten by womp rats -- but *playing* with him?   
  
No. Sorry, but no.   
  
"Kree?" Vertash said, shaking her shoulders overenthusiastically. "Come on up for air. Swimming around in the muck in your head's just going to make you dizzy."   
  
It was a Vertash-ism, and she put up with it. She'd drawn a knife on him when she found out his parents had been on the Death Star; he'd just said "Rugged knife," and been done with it. He didn't really *get* the way her temper ate at her sometimes, but he knew how to make it stop, and that was good enough for Kerea. "Vader," she said.   
  
"Dritali," Vertash answered.   
  
Dritali turned primly away and looked out the window again. "And just what is that supposed to mean?"   
  
"It means you see Lord Vader in the rocks in Beggars Canyon."   
  
"Kit _called _him Anakin. I _heard _it."   
  
"And there can only be one Anakin in the galaxy?" Vertash asked.   
  
Kerea pursed her lips. "It doesn't seem likely that... I mean, it's not that common a name, and they *do* both know that girl." But she wanted to be convinced. "But it's more likely than the other, right? I mean, are you really talking about time travel? It's supposed to be impossible. And anyway, he's just like us. You know... just... "   
  
"Lost," Dritali said thoughtfully. "Alone."   
  
Kit looked to the heavens, then rolled his eyes toward the garden, where the girl was coming out of the shed. He put his hands on his heart sarcastically. "May I be as alone as he is! With such a heartless -- and ugly -- friend..."   
  
Kerea shoved him playfully, and he grabbed her into a wrestle hold. She didn't pretend to be physically strong (Dritali sometimes did; she fancied herself a heroine, like in the shows they watched on the holoproj, though she'd never admit it), and she gave in easily. Vertash messed up her hair with his knuckles, then released her. His heart wasn't in it.   
  
"Maybe they all were friends," she said. "And maybe we're being really crazy to talk about time travel and stuff. Maybe he's just someone's son. Maybe he was named after Vader. Maybe Anakin is Vader's first name... I think the 'Darth' part's a title or something."   
  
"It's him," Dritali insisted. "I can feel it."   
  
Vertash rolled his eyes. "Great. Now, she thinks she's a Jedi." 

------------------ 

Obi-Wan drifted away from the hut. Leia was good at blocking but Luke wasn't and he _really _didn't want to eavesdrop on this particular conversation. 

Master apparently had no such qualms. He remained right by the door, arms folded into his sleeves, heavy brow knit. Maybe he wanted to be at hand in case Yoda needed help. 

Obi-Wan wandered along the shore the nearby mere, keeping a wary eye peeled. A planet like this would be crawling with voracious and dangerous lifeforms. He wondered by Yoda had chosen to hide here of all places - shrugged a little. Maybe it reminded him of home? Nobody really knew where Yoda'd come from. Maybe this _was _his home! 

"Things have gotten very complicated." The voice, mellow with a smooth Coreworlds accent, spun him around one hand going automatically to his sabre then dropped away as he saw who'd spoken. 

Another Jedi, a Master by the balanced feel of him, white haired and bearded and surrounded by a shimmering blue aura. 

Obi-Wan stared in awe and disbelief. He'd heard stories of this, whispered by other acolytes and confirmed by hints in the archives. Supposedly there was a way for a Jedi to refuse union with the Force and remain active in the sphere of the Living manifesting as a blue-auraed Force apparition -- like this. He'd never really believed it was possible and even if it were why would anybody do such a thing? condemn himself to a half-life caught between states of being and forever seperate from the Force. 

The apparitional Jedi was looking at him, eyebrows slightly lifted, waiting for a response. "Yes," Obi-Wan stammered, "very complicated." 

"The future is always in motion," The Master continued, "but now it's in turmoil." A sigh. "What will become of us all?" 

"I don't know, Master. We must return to our own time but if we do with what we know now..." 

  
"You may change what happens, change this present." the Master agreed. "For the better I hope."

"From what I've heard it can't get much worse." 

A rueful, somehow familiar smile. "No, it can't." The Apparition seated himself on a stump, gave Obi-Wan a stern look. "Confronting Palpatine was foolish, more foolish than I'd have expected even of you. You could have gotten both Luke and yourself killed." 

"With both his apprentices dead Palpatine would never have been more vulnerable," Obi-Wan argued defensively.

"You faced him in a spirit of anger and vengeance." the Master retorted. "You should have known better, Obi-Wan!" 

"_Luke's _supposed to be a Jedi Knight," he shot back, stung, "_He _should have known better." 

"Luke has had only a few months training with me and with Yoda. You on the other hand have had twenty years of Temple discipline," the other replied crisply. 

"A few months?" Obi-Wan gasped, disbelieving.

"It was all the time we were given," the Apparition sounded suddenly weary. "Luke is the last of the Jedi, our last hope." 

Obi-Wan felt sick. "You mean it's just the three of you?"

The Master nodded. 

"There were ten thousand of us," Obi-Wan whispered. 

"All dead," was the quiet answer. Again that eerily familiar smile. "Including me." 

Obi-Wan studied him uncertainly. This strange Master reminded him a little of Qui-Gon. _Another maverick! but then he'd have had to be to do what he's done. _"Do I know you, Master, in my time I mean?" 

The look he got in return was openly amused. "I remember being reckless, and impudent, but not slow on the uptake!" 

Obi-Wan stared. Old, so much older but those were his own eyes looking back. He could barely believe it. That he of all people would have the power and the knowledge to avoid union with the Force, much less the will!   


He swallowed. "I saw how I died. Leia leaked the image to me. I - you - just gave up, surrendered. Why?"   
  
------------------ 

"Poodoo!" Anakin Skywalker exclaimed, suddenly standing up beside the hyperdrive. He amplified it to "_Bantha _poodoo!" then looked guiltily over his shoulder at Sabé, and winced when he saw that the queen was coming up the gangplank behind her.   
  
Lando Calrissian suppressed a grin. He liked this kid. "What's the language about, Skywalker?" he asked. "Looks to me like it's going in fine."   
  
Anakin shook his head. "We almost forgot the biggest thing. We're not just taking off. When we did it last time, there was a lightsaber frying everything. We have to get it back in there, and even if it _does _work, it'll all be fried again, and we have to buy _another _hyperdrive."   
  
"Bantha poodoo," Sabé said primly.   
  
Anakin gaped a her, and Lando gave her a smile. He definitely needed to hook up with her later. As soon as this ship was in orbit, he thought he had a call to make.   
  
Amidala just rubbed her temples. She looked so tired that it took most of Lando's playful mood away. "All right," she said. "We can find other things to trade, perhaps. Lando, is there anything left of Jabba's palace to scavenge for trade-goods?"   
  
"I did some trading for Jabba," Lando said. "I have some ointments and silks in a hut not too far from here. I'll get them for you, just in case. But we probably have some time before the others get back. Maybe we can figure out how to do this without wrecking your engines again. What say, Ani? Want to get serious about this hunk of junk?"   
  
The boy bit his lip, but as Lando suspected, he could no more resist the temptation of that kind of invitation than Han Solo could. He nodded, and unscrewed the cover plates on the hyperdrive.   
  
After awhile, Lando Calrissian, who had never thought of himself as a rookie mechanic, just stood back and watched. 

------------------ 

"It was my final lesson. Light is stronger then dark, if only because those of light have more to lose and must fight harder. I begun to drive it through his head with my death, Anakin never could realize light was stronger.   
  
"As you can see, I am very much still here to help my cause win. Darth Vader is very much not," he paused. "Though he sacrificed himself for Amidala at the end and for that I am grateful."   
  
He looked at his younger self with a blank face, wondering what to call him to keep things less confused in his mind. _Hmm... He's just Obi-Wan. No doubt about that. Well, I suppose I can be Ben. _  
  
"Final lesson? What is that--- We taught Anakin didn't we?" Obi-Wan's voice was panicked and his hands were running through his hair nervously. "I taught the thing that helped kill ten thousand Jedi? I taught the thing that destroyed Alderaan? By the Force, why was stupid enough to let me teach a nine-year-old child when I haven't even become a Jedi yet?"   
  
Obi-Wan slumped down onto a patch of land and promptly put his head in his hands. Ben had had no idea this was coming, he was never very good at feelings. He just waited patiently for Obi-Wan to stop cursing the Jedi Council under his breath and talk.   
  
"This sucks. This just sucks." Obi-Wan briefly took his head out of his hands so he could nod emphatically.   
  
"Excuse me?"   
  
"Not only do I know my future, the future of everyone I know but now I know it's my fault. Very fun thing to know at twenty-two. Sith, I'm sure everyone wants to hear it. 'Hey you, 'cause of a mistake you made, everyone's going to die and an evil Empire will rise! Well, thanks for your time.' Right." Obi-Wan stood up and started to pace around the area in a fit of nervous energy.   
  
"Well, now you can change it. You have a warning I wish I had every day. By the time I knew anything was wrong, my padawan was in a lava pit and had declared himself the Emperor's second. The boy I had raised since he was nine did that. And then he killed me, years later. How do you think I felt about that?" Ben stopped when he felt himself get increasingly bitter.   
  
_It's just that I miss the Anakin I knew. If I am bitter, it's only because he is dead. He was like my younger brother…_  
  
"I am sorry for that. It's different for you though, it has happened. You can think of a billion ways to change it and maybe they'll help, maybe they won't. I have to use them. If I do and he turns, it's still on my head only this time, I'll have had more then adequate warning." Obi-Wan stopped pacing and turned to look Ben straight in the eyes.   
  
It was a brief moment but it was anything but brief. It was the meeting of the same two souls, trying to figure out where things took a turn for the worse. Obi-Wan looked away first, blowing out a breath softly.   
  
"Well, if I could do it over, I'd get Master Qui-Gon to teach him, just don't be hurt if he does it. It's for the good of the galaxy. Support his relationship with Amidala. Get a girlfriend. Okay, that one's just for you but… Female role model?" Ben paused, considering something. "Actually, I overheard Luke's conversation with Yoda. That you wouldn't kill Palpatine while he was unconscious should definitely be considered a trial. Maybe--"   
  
"Overheard?" Obi-Wan smirked slightly and the tension started easing from his frame.   
  
"Jedi Masters do not eavesdrop, Padawan. Also, do not interrupt me." He grinned. "If I were you, I'd go see if Yoda would make you a Knight for that. Or maybe you should get the old Yoda to make you that. The one from the past I mean. Oh, this is too confusing."   
  
"It is. Thank you very much for the advice, Master. I must go talk to my Master now and try to sort this all out. I hope to talk to you again before we leave." With that, Obi-Wan gave a half bow and left, holding his head higher then he had been.   
  
_I just hope he listens. Force knows that I never listened… _

------------------ 

__

Coruscant, twilight of the Old Republic.   
  
_She should be here by now._  
  
Senator Palpatine paced his quarters like an opee sea killer navigating the Core Spires. Something had gone wrong. This should be the hour of his victory, but instead, there was only a gnawing unease.   
  
Maul had found her, along with the missing Jedi. They were preparing to leave whatever wretched Outer Rim depot they'd hidden in, and she should have arrived here, or at least contacted him, by now. The wheels of his plan should be spinning nicely.   
  
And they were, they were.   
  
That was the most frustrating part of this unbearable situation. He felt it like a flicker in his peripheral vision. She arrived, she behaved as he had anticipated, and she would leave him positioned for the galaxy to fall into his lap. It was happening, except that it wasn't.   
  
Maul.   
  
It had begun when Maul had vanished from the Force. Palpatine toyed with the idea that his apprentice had betrayed him, but discarded it. Maul was loyal, Maul was devoted to the idea of increasing his power, and Maul simply would not dare. He hadn't died -- at least not at the time he disappeared -- nor had he consciously blocked himself. He'd simply ceased being part of the fabric of the Force.   
  
That was when the anxiety began, the elusive, sideways visions.   
  
Something had gone very wrong. Something about the Queen.   
  
Amidala was young and naive, as he'd told Nute Gunray, and she was easy to control... under most circumstances. At fourteen, she was only beginning to expand her view -- from her family to Theed, now from Theed to all Naboo... but Naboo was a small place, in the scheme of things, and the fact that she had not yet realized this in a meaningful way was what made her easy to manipulate.   
  
But Queen Amidala was not Nute Gunray, or the mindless bureaucrats of Coruscant. She was intelligent, and if her gaze should widen, if she should ever stumble across the right questions... she would find the way to answer them.   
  
_She's a mere child. A girl, at that.  
  
_Of course, of course. Why worry over such an insignificant creature? This was a mere setback. He had been among the over-pampered dandies of Coruscant too long.   
  
He smiled, and it was gentle, almost beautiful.   
  
All of this would be his. It was just a matter of time.   
  
But it wouldn't hurt to create a contingency plan.   
  
Just in case.   
  
------------------   
  
_Tatooine, the last days of the Empire._  
  
Lando and Ani were working on the hyperdrive, or rather Ani was working on it, and Lando was watching with rapt interest and asking questions about what he was doing.   
  
Amidala decided that she needed to learn more about ships and mechanics -- it seemed to please Ani vastly to talk about it -- but for now, she didn't know enough to follow. She supposed he would feel the same if she was talking politics.   
  
She closed her eyes, and concentrated on the image that had come to her, the image of a forked thread. It was tied, then split, and the new ends spun in different directions. (She supposed that to anyone else, it would look like a tree branch, but she was the granddaughter of a weaver, and had learned spinning at an early age. Her personal stock of metaphors tended to have a textile base.)   
  
She imagined herself, sitting here in the Nubian, poised far beyond the point where the branches split. The opposite branch was nebulous and unformed, a swirling mass of light -- it was unreal, because she hadn't spun it yet. It could become anything.   
  
_Maybe I can go back before the split. _  
  
No. She knew better. The split had occurred with the time disruption, and any other disruption would just cause another split. Better to get back to this one and travel the new path.   
  
Maybe, when they were still close, she would be able to speak to her other self, or make contact _somehow_. Maybe she could --   
  
The thread of the new line twisted. Nothing tight or useful, but the beginning of a shape. She imagined herself as one of the unformed light fibers, and moved it in her mind. Good. And Ani... the bright one beside it. She could almost hear Winama telling her to keep them together, to not let the fibers wander and thin as she spun.   
  
Oh, but it was all imaginary. This thread wouldn't really be spun until someone was living on it. That was the only way to spin time. She would have to travel that thread now, and create time, and...   
  
And wait.   
  
Wait for _now_. For the time when the children could make her aware of what had happened, for the time when she could grab both strands, and begin to spin them together again.   
  
_You're still here._   
  
Her eyes opened. Yes, she *was*. Ani hadn't known it before, but he'd sensed it at the end. She was here, and the thread could be re-spun, if she just had the patience to wait for thirty long years to do it -- and if the *she* who was here would have any inclination to.   
  
Well, she'd believe it. She had to believe it, because there was nothing she could do otherwise. 

------------------ 

Leia rubbed her neck, holding in a sigh. When she had entered, she'd been prepared to scream at Yoda, until her voice was sore.   
  
_Someone could have told me Yoda was about to die._  
  
"Jedi you are, young Skywalker." Leia was sure Luke's face was going to bust from the grin that had erupted on his face. She hugged Luke and was about to congratulate him when Yoda continued, "Confront fears you did."   
  
"Master, are you sure I'm ready?" Luke was shaking his head in disbelief, completly ignoring common sense that must have been telling him 'Don't change his mind!'.   
  
"Skywalker--" Yoda's face was weary but full of compassion as he looked at the twins.   
  
"Master, I want to be a Jedi because I've earned it not just because you're about to die!" Luke's dark hair was falling all over his face and she had a sudden pang that she had never had a chance to muss it up. Or do anything that twins do with him.   
  
"Would not say you were if you had not earned it." Yoda's eyes closed but he talked on. "Datacards, there are to help you teach. Old system worked well, that you need to remember."   
  
"Yes, Master. I'll make you proud, I'll teach Padawans. I'll do everything I can to live up to your memory." Luke's voice cracked and Leia grabbed his hand.   
  
After a second, Leia decided to ask her own question. It could be her last chance, after all. "Our Mother, Yoda?"   
  
"Alive she is. Prison camp, somewhere... Say goodbye to Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan you will?" With that Yoda faded away, leaving only robes and an black darkness for those who had known the Jedi Master.   
  
With that, Leia and Luke slowly got up and left the hut, wondering what was next.

------------------ 

Dagobah. It was the final resting-place for Jedi Master Yoda. It was--   
  
"Are we leaving any time soon?" Obi-Wan's voice broke into his thoughts with a slam and Luke looked up. "I know this hit you hard, Knight Skywalker. If it were the Yoda of my time... Master Yoda was the Master everyone played with when I was small, he… Still, we need to go."   
  
"Yeah. I just have a few things I want to look at, I'll be up in a minute." Luke gave a sheepish grin and jogged off to Yoda's hut without waiting for any responses.   
  
As soon as he reached the hut, he couldn't help shivering a little. It was where Yoda's presence could be felt most strongly, especially to those who had known him.   
  
"I'll miss you, Master Yoda."   
  
__Miss you too I will, young Skywalker. Leave you should. Get them home you need. Take my stick, for luck you will?  
  
Luke crinkled his nose in surprise but nodded all the same. _You would think I was used to ghosts taking to me by now, _he thought with a tinge of humor.   
  
He entered the hut and carefully picked up the worn stick. More then anything, the gimmer stick was a relic of the old Jedi Master. It was an honor to have it. Quietly, he wasn't sure if Yoda was there or not, "Thanks."   
  
Walking out, he took a quick last look around Dagobah, taking in the trees, the few visible animals, the muck and just the serenity of the place. He had been trained here, it had been home at a time when he had needed one.   
  
After a few seconds of reflecting of time spent, he ran up to the Millennium Falcon. He just went on automatic, letting his mind try and shuffle through recent events until he reached the Falcon's common room. He smiled a little when he saw Leia was sitting with a smirk on her face and a stack of cards next to her.   
  
"Up for a game, little brother?"   
  
"Not with a smirk that big, Leia. Are you secretly a card shark?" He paused. "What's up with little brother? For all you know, I could be older."   
  
He ignored the little voice saying, _You're younger. Admit it and move on_, choosing to sit across from Leia instead. After doing a quick check to see if they were marked, a force of habit from playing on Tatooine, he dealt. "With you, we're playing something easy. Gin rummy good?"   
  
"It's fine. And I'm just older. It's why I did everything first. I became a Senator first, joined the Rebellion first, it's why I'm just so much better looking. See, I'm just oh-so-talented!" Leia struck a pose, grinning wildly. Luke wasn't exactly sure, but he thought they were bonding.   
  
It was kind of nice.

------------------ 

The circuits and wires flowed under his hands as if the Nubian's hyperdrive were just an overgrown podracing engine. It felt like something else, or some_one_ else, was doing it, except that as Calrissian asked his questions, Anakin always found that he could answer them. _This is what I'm doing, and this is why I'm doing it._  
  
He'd always been confident as a mechanic, but it felt good to really find out _how _good he was. He was making up a whole new part for this engine, and it was going to work.   
  
Well, _probably _it was, anyway. No reason it shouldn't.   
  
He strung a piece of wire down the middle of a tube, and looped it, so that the suspended magnet would help it form a small but powerful generator when the heat of the hyperdrive began to spin all the parts. "It'll make the energy, but the sheath around it's going to keep it from frying out all the parts on the way in."   
  
"Are you sure it's the right amount?"   
  
"Sure I am."   
  
"How?"   
  
Anakin frowned. That part, he didn't know. He just _knew_, in some unexplored part of his mind, that he was feeding the hyperdrive what it would need to make the time jump.   
  
__It's the same voltage as a lightsaber, with the amperage of the red frequency.   
  
He blinked, and sat back, disappointed. He'd been cheating. His bad older self was doing something. He knew the voice, even though he hadn't heard it before.   
  
He had a feeling that he could get mightily sick of it.   
  
__I explained. You already knew. Mind your pride, but trust your abilities. They will not fail you.  
  
(when will you stop talking?)  
  
There was no answer, which Anakin profoundly hoped was an answer.   
  
"You okay?" Calrissian asked.   
  
"Fine. Sure, yeah. Just talking to myself in my head."   
  
Calrissian smiled. "Well, whatever you're doing, keep doing it."   
  
"No." Anakin blinked. "I mean, I think it's done. I think we're set. I... I _know _it. Now, we just need to wait for the others to come back."   
  
"Well, if you _know _it... " The older man grinned, then grew serious. "What are you going do, if it works? What do you think you should do?"   
  
"I don't know. I'm nine." But the denial felt wrong in Anakin's mouth, and he waved it away before Calrissian could ask a question. "I guess I just... you know, stick with Amidala and Qui-Gon, and try to figure everything out. Maybe it's that simple." He looked toward Sanctuary. "And I think maybe I'll ask about helping look after the little kids on Coruscant, in the Temple, if they'll let me." He nodded to himself, and didn't bother trying to explain to Calrissian. He'd just felt really good playing with the little ones in Sanctuary, and he figured if there were some of those around and looking up to him, he'd be too ashamed to do anything really bad.   
  
"Whatever you say. Just try not to make any more bum deals with city administrators, okay?"   
  
Anakin smiled wickedly and held out his hand. "Deal."   
  
Calrissian laughed, getting the joke -- Anakin didn't know why he felt like he could make a joke about it to Calrissian, but it seemed to have turned out all right -- then shook his hand. "Deal." Then the man grabbed at his throat and made a gagging sound, rolling his eyes as he did it.   
  
"Very funny," Anakin told him.   
  
"Hey, you started it."

------------------ 

Leia walked up to the cockpit, trying to look the calm she didn't feel. With a nervous smile, she tiptoed to the door, watching as Han worked at some datacard. "Hey."   
  
He spun around, a cocky look in place. "Hey Princess. This was getting a little boring, I'm glad you showed up... What's wrong?"   
  
"Who says anything's wrong?" She flashed him a smile, trying to project some serenity and peace. Hey, it worked for Qui-Gon.   
  
Han motioned her over and she sat in the copilot seat, secretly pleased he wanted her to sit here. She shifted as he looked at her, trying to ignore the intensity of his gaze. "Something's up. C'mon Leia, it'll make you feel better if you talk about. Or do I have to bribe you?"   
  
"Bribe me. You'll be amazed what a girl will do for chocolate." She let him take her hands in his, wondering why he always seemed to get romantic while they were on the Falcon.   
  
"I'll remember that, Leia. Now come on, I'm your no-good smuggler boyfriend that both of your dads would have loved to hate. You can talk to me." Han grinned when she laughed, imagining both the Viceroy of Alderaan and Darth Vader looming in on Han.   
  
"Do you believe in destiny, Han?" she paused. "I don't, that's what scares me. I always thought we made our own destiny, but now--"   
  
He blew out a breath as a look of understanding came over his face. Han might be a lot of things but he wasn't stupid. The reformed smuggler stood up and gathered her up in his arms, holding her tightly.   
  
"What if I'm not born, Han? Now that they know ... things will change! Mother might decide having us isn't worth it, Anakin might find someone else, one of them could die, she could get pregnant with other children ... or what if it's just me and not Luke? The possibilities are scary, Han." Leia tried but found she couldn't stop her voice from trembling.   
  
"You just have to have faith, sweetheart. We all do," he lifted her chin, putting on a fake grin. "Maybe it'll even turn out better. Think of it, no Empire. Alderaan there, a Corellia that actually lets people visit. We just need hope."   
  
Leia kissed him, trying to turn off her brain. She just wanted to stand here all day, and listen to Han tell her it would all be all right, and let herself believe him. U

Unfortunately, they entered orbit into Tatooine, blowing that plan into smithereens.   
  
Han looked up briefly from the calculations he was entering . "We should go out, as soon as this is all finished."   
  
"I'd like that." Leia grinned unable to keep a little voice from going, __I have a date, I have a date. Yay!  
  
"Sith! I'm guessing there's a problem, Leia." Han's voice and several beeping sonds broke into her inner cheer and she looked up, trying to see what the problem was.   
  
The Nubian ship was hovering about ten feet above the ground. From the way the pilot was sending hails to the Falcon, they hadn't wanted it to do that. "Great." 

------------------   
  
When the Nubian suddenly lifted, Amidala was thrown across the conference room, slamming her shoulder into the curve of the far wall. Sabé fell to the floor and skidded toward the door, catching herself with an effort before she was tossed into the maintenance pit. The engine hummed loudly, then the ship righted itself, and Amidala scrambled to get her balance, then ran back toward the engine room.   
  
Lando Calrissian and Ani were holding on to pipes near the engine, and the small device Ani had made from spare parts (including the hinges of two of her wardrobe containers) was lit by a pulsing green glow. He was shaking when he turned and gave her a sheepish smile. "It works," he said.   
  
"Barely," Calrissian muttered. "Let's get back down."   
  
"Okay." Ani waved toward the cockpit, where Rick Olie was apparently waiting for the signal. Amidala sighed with relief, and waited for the comforting sounds of the landing cycle to begin.   
  
That was when the alarm went off.   
  
"Damn!" Calrissian shouted. "Ani, what happens if you unhook that thing?"   
  
Ani ran to the engines and reached out, but a spark flew at his hand. "No go," he called over his shoulder. "If this thing's going to get us back in time, we better not land 'til we get where we're going."   
  
"I'm not going where you're going. And your buddies -- "   
  
Another light flashed, and Amidala ran to the cockpit. "Who is hailing us, Captain Olie?"   
  
"It's the _Falcon_. She's coming down into orbit."   
  
"Tell her to fly low."   
  
"What?"   
  
"We can't land, I think. Something about the modification in the engine."   
  
Olie started the hail, and Amidala went back to the engine room. "Ani, you're sure we can't land."   
  
He turned to her, blushing furiously. "I'm sorry, I -- "   
  
She put a hand on his arm, and gave him the most peaceful smile she could muster, which wasn't saying much at that very moment. "You did fine, Ani. But we need to work around it if we can't land."   
  
"Okay, yeah. We... well, I wasn't expecting it, and I don't think it's going to hurt anything except this. The part just kind of, I don't know, integrated or something. So if we shut it down with the energy going through, it might fry, which is what we don't want. So we just keep flying, and we're fine. We land wherever you want to. Then maybe I can fix it again, but... I don't know if I can build the other thing without -- " He shuddered. "Without help, and I won't have it back home."   
  
Amidala didn't ask for an explanation. She knew how their interests were being protected. "Okay," she said. "You stay here and make sure nothing goes wrong. I'll set it up."   
  
Calrissian cleared his throat. "Your Majesty?"   
  
"You're going to have to jump or come with us."   
  
He raised his eyebrows. "Quite a choice there. If you can go low, I'll jump."   
  
Amidala glanced at Ani who shrugged and nodded. Flying low was apparently okay. "I'll tell Captain Olie to drop to a hovering height. Jump when I yell."   
  
"No problems giving orders in your family." He grinned.   
  
Amidala, who couldn't remember a time when she hadn't felt comfortable in authority, didn't bother responding to his joke. "Then we're clear?"   
  
Calrissian saluted, and went toward the hatch. He was lowering the gangplank when Amidala went back to the cockpit. She flipped on the security camera in the engine room to watch what was happening, then leaned over the comm-station, where the _Falcon _was answering the hail.   
  
"Captain Solo!" she called.   
  
"Yeah, here. What's going on?"   
  
"No time to explain. We'll need to make the switch in midair. We're dropping low enough for Baron Calrissian to jump, but Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan need to come here. Can you get close enough for them to make the jump?"   
  
She heard him shout something toward wherever the Jedi were, then grumble and stand. A second later, Leia's voice came across. "Mother, I... "   
  
"We'll see each other Leia."   
  
"I know, but I'd hoped... "   
  
Amidala thought for a moment, searching for the serenity to say something wise and maternal, but she she couldn't find it.   
  
Then Han was back, and Amidala could hear other feet shuffling along. Qui-Gon Jinn grabbed the microphone. "Your Majesty, the transfer shouldn't be a problem for us, but the proximity will make it difficult for the pilots. We should move quickly."   
  
"Yes, of course." Amidala glanced at Ric Olie. "Let's move, Captain. Now."   
  
As soon as Olie responded, Amidala fell silent, to allow him full concentration. She watched the engine room on the small screen, a soundless and grainy unreality. Lando Calrissian was crouched beside the open hatch, poised like a feline hunter. The altitude dropped to seven meters. They couldn't dare any further in the dune-strewn terrain. "Now, Calrissian!" she yelled back.   
  
Calrissian didn't hesitate. He drop-rolled down the gangplank, and another monitor caught him falling into the sand far behind the ship. Amidala felt a curious and detached regret to lose the last piece of the future, but she still had to finish restoring the present.   
  
The proximity lights began to flash as the Nubian and the _Falcon _drew close to one another. A third monitor -- set to automatically display objects that were too close, Amidala supposed -- showed the Correllian ship. A hatch on the _Falcon_ opened, and she recognized the silhouettes of Obi-Wan Kenobi and Qui-Gon Jinn. Behind them was a formless shadow that she knew was Luke without needing to recognize the shape. She traced the vague outline with her eyes, hungry to remember all she could, even in her hurry.   
  
The ships drew to their closest point, and a signal flashed on the control board. "They're coming," Olie said. "They're going to jump."   
  
A second later, Obi-Wan dropped to the base of the _Falcon_'s gangplank, then assumed the same crouch Lando had used. He waited, eyes closed, for something Amidala couldn't identify, then made a graceful, controlled leap. Amidala felt the shock of his landing, then heard footsteps thundering toward the cockpit. "Your Majesty, the Empire is out there. In orbit. They're on the other side of the planet, but we dare not go into lightspeed here. It will lead them to the _Falcon_ and your children."   
  
"Very well."   
  
She looked back at the monitor. Qui-Gon was preparing for his leap. He looked up at the sky, troubled, then shouted something back. The shadow that was Luke disappeared into the ship. Amidala felt him wrenched away from her. Then Qui-Gon was in the air, and another impact pulled him on board. "Shut the hatch!" she heard him call, then there was the whine of the gangplank receding and the hatch closing.   
  
__I am forgetting something.  
  
Obi-Wan took her arm. "Your Majesty, we should leave the system before we leave a hyperspace trail."   
  
"Yes, we should." Qui-Gon entered, looking as calm as if he'd been meditating for an hour. "Han suggested heading out at sublight to the next system. I told him I would relay the idea."   
  
"Yes, of course." _What is it, what am I... _She realized, and she felt her eyes open wide. "Captain Olie, is the hail still open?"   
  
"Yes -- "   
  
She didn't bother with formalities, just leaned over and called "Leia! Leia, are you there?"   
  
"Yes, Mother! We're here."   
  
"Good. There's no time. Find me. You have to find me here. I hope I'll know what to do -- "   
  
"Mother, you're... "   
  
"_Find me._ Get to me. I am still here. Do you understand?"   
  
"Yes, Mother."   
  
_Done. It's done. There's nothing else to say._

  
"Mother?"   
  
"Yes?"   
  
"I'll see you soon."   
  
Amidala smiled. The connection was getting spotter as the ships moved away from one another. "Yes. Soon. I love you both."   
  
"I love them too!" Ani shouted from the engine room. "But we have to get out of here!"   
  
Amidala smiled slightly, and said, "You heard your father."   
  
Leia laughed at the sound of it, then the connection faded completely as they broke out of the atmosphere. There was a burst of loud static, then the hum of an open communication. Amidala reached to turn it off, but just as her hand touched the control, another voice came through.   
  
"Mother?" Luke said. His voice was firm and low, like Ani's had been... or would be...   
  
"Yes?"   
  
"You need to bring him back to us. We can't win without him."   
  
Amidala heard a sharply indrawn breath and guessed that Leia had her reservations, but nothing else was said on board the _Falcon._ Amidala leaned forward and said, "I will. I promise." Then a solar flare cut the communication again, and Olie punched in a course to lead the encroaching Empire away from the desert world.   
  
The link was broken.   
  
No one spoke.   
  
Amidala looked at the monitors that had been set to the outside. They were black and nearly starless.   
  
The ship lurched violently, trying to go into hyperspace, and she heard Ani curse.   
  
"We'd best assist him," Qui-Gon said.   
  
"No," Amidala told him. "Let me."   
  
She went back and knelt beside the engine. Ani directed her hands to the proper controls without speaking or looking at her. She could feel the conduits trembling like live things.   
  
"Don't let go," Ani whispered. Then he looked at her, and his eyes were deep rivers of fear. "I think they're a little loose."   
  
She tightened her grip, and said, "It's time."   
  
He nodded.   
  
A moment later, the Nubian made the jump to lightspeed, and disappeared from among the stars.   
  
------------------ 

EPILOGUE   
  
Kit Jarai did not want to let go of the torches. They sat solidly in each weathered hand, very real and tangible.   
  
On Tatooine, the only certainty was death, and as the situation faded into his memory, he hungered for the certainty of the torches.   
  
But he knew they belonged in the hands of Anakin's son and daughter. It was tradition; worldly goods be damned, every effort possible was made for the next-of-kin of Tatooine's deceased to light the pyre, no matter how poor the family. After all that had been denied them, he could not deny them this. Luke took the torch into his hands firmly, very familiar with the tradition. Leia hesitated, absently pulling on her shoulder as if to stretch her neck, then pausing with realization -- realizing what, Kit had no idea -- and smiling.   
  
In a moment, Kit's hands were empty, and he thought they just might have always been that way.   
  
"They need to be lit," he said. His voice was low and quiet, but it wasn't done purposely. The assembled group was too quiet for anything else. It occurred to him that he'd just said the first spoken word since they'd all gathered, but it wasn't worth mulling over.   
  
"Here," Luke said, and carefully lifted his lightsaber to his eye-level, igniting the very top of the torch. Then -- again, silently; silence dominated -- he tilted his sister's torch toward him, and lit hers from his. Kit stepped between them, behind them a bit, and the group began to walk outside.   
  
It was early, very early. The first sun was not due to rise for a standard hour, and the first etchings of orange were beginning to frame the dome of the darkest-blue sky. Kit found himself fighting back a smile -- there was an effort to be made in attending this particular pyre, beyond the psychological barriers they had. It was an inconvenience to attend, and they did so anyway. Vertash was up and about, dressed as closely as possible to the Imperial schoolboy uniform he'd have worn. He stayed close to Dritali, and the two of them followed Kit at a fair distance. (Kerea -- who slept late as a habit -- had made a point not to attend, but was wide awake anyway, Dritali had told Kit before the others arrived.)   
  
Solo and Calrissian hung back behind the children, and that was it.   
  
The garden, and the clear view of the body, were only seconds away, and Kit felt this was not something to be kept secret.   
  
"Your father's respirator was very much integrated with his body," Kit whispered to Luke. "Much more so than I'd imagined. It was some sort of electrical disturbance and the circuits were fried."   
  
"I understand," Luke replied solemnly, his eyes fixed ahead.   
  
"No, I'm afraid you don't. It was very visible, and --"   
  
It was too late.   
  
The twins hesitated at the sight. They weren't at such a distance as to show all detail, but what they could see was a man dressed as a simple Tatooinian farmer, the only tell-tale sign that this man was in fact Darth Vader being the black boots and the gloved hands.   
  
A childlike smile crossed Luke's face, and -- after taking Leia's hand to get her moving -- he began to walk forward again. They walked around their father (an action called the Last Considering, Kit would have to explain to Vertash later), memorizing the visible injuries, the serene expression, the eyes that Kit didn't know how to shut. Didn't want to shut.   
  
They came around to his feet again and set their torches to the same spot. The flames grew, consuming, sending up tendrils of smoke into the earliest light, and they stepped back. Kit took the torches from them and put them out in the sand, thankful for something real to do again.   
  
As he stood back up through a dull pain, he noticed that Leia's head had rested on her brother's shoulder, and he was close enough to hear her ask, "What will happen to us now?"   
  
The smoke -- a dark wave, a stormcloud -- drifted up higher and higher into the darkest blue-black of the sky, where the stars still broke through. Kit thought that, perhaps, the biggest question was, what had already happened?   
  
TO BE CONTINUED ... ;) 

Note from Vee: Some people were more than willing to give me credit for this story back when it was in progress on the forums. That's not fair. I hardly wrote at all! In fact, the only parts I can think of that I wrote, just off-hand, are the prologue, epilogue, and Vader's death from his perspective. (If you hadn't read this story, and that's a surprise to you, that's what you get for cheating. Nyaah!) JediGaladriel and SithAbigail wrote so much of this story it's unbelievable, and Moriah Organa and Mr. P brought such interesting angles to the tale. I'm really lucky to have worked with all of them.

This story took three months and seventeen days to write. With any luck, the sequel -- titled "That You Might Live" -- will be done before 2001.


End file.
